Is written debate dying out?

Depends how broadly we're looking at "written debate." People still argue on social media all the time. For the debate.org brand of more structured written debate, DebateCraft is the only game in town to my knowledge, so the question is really "Is DebateCraft less active than debate.org was?" Which I think it very much is, but it's also a new site. Additionally, I think the quality of debate has gone up. People who were on debate.org are probably having the same debates on Reddit, but I think the number of high-quality debates has gone up with UltraRated tournaments. Back on ddo and DART, high-quality debates were a pretty rare event, but here there are usually a few going on at any given time.

Savant wrote:

Depends how broadly we're looking at "written debate." People still argue on social media all the time. For the debate.org brand of more structured written debate, DebateCraft is the only game in town to my knowledge, so the question is really "Is DebateCraft less active than debate.org was?" Which I think it very much is, but it's also a new site. Additionally, I think the quality of debate has gone up. People who were on debate.org are probably having the same debates on Reddit, but I think the number of high-quality debates has gone up with UltraRated tournaments. Back on ddo and DART, high-quality debates were a pretty rare event, but here there are usually a few going on at any given time.

I do agree with this. Debate quality has improved big time - especially with the ultrarated tournament

I've wondered that myself recently,

I do think this website could advertise more effectively, but I'm a lazy person.

Unless I got paid money in some way for bringing people in, I'd rather be a hedonist.

I do wonder if the internet is changing,

Reddit recently has been trying to require me to make an account just to browse it.

But I'm bad at research,

Some say that most people have moved onto their phones, as opposed to computers.

Some say people have drifted to other sites, such as Discord.

Some say bots have driven people from many places.

I feel I was most interested in debating in my early 20s.

I was unsure about many subjects.

Still am, but less so.

Right now I want to play video games, walk, laze about, work on video game or book idea, listen to music, watch YouTube.

Debates, voting on debates, take a lot of my attention, so I 'haven't so much lately. Maybe later.

I've considered doing commentary on the Tao Te Ching, or the Prince, or 'some book.

But it's generally already been done, and better than I likely would.

I missed my chance 20 or so years ago when I was a teenager, but I didn't have internet then.

And arguably I 'could succeed in ? now.

But past and missed opportunities you know?

The 'right moves are visible in hindsight.

. . I suppose for every person that was willing to say I brought them to the site,

'And only if each of those people made 20 quality debates,

It'd be fair to pay me. But could still be expensive,

And one wonders how much each person is 'worth.

Perhaps people of different quality worth different amounts.

So where has Leaning been recently on their global moderating travels?

Sorry, but I do find the label amusing...Though I'm sure that it is purposeful, worthwhile and rewarding.

Might I suggest the Strait of Hormuz.

Heh,

It's been interesting to see behind a Moderation curtain,

But I've not been a very active Moderator.

Hey, if it don't need moderating then don't moderate it.

Though I've never had you down as a zealot.

And never think that you can hide behind a curtain if it doesn't quite reach the floor...Your red stilettoes will be a dead give away.

Social media. Though it cannot be defined as formal debate, SM is all about both written and verbal debate, so, no, I do not believe written debate is a dying breed.

Not unless you join The Tournament.

Ultrarated Tournament Round 6 Sign Ups | Forum | DebateCraft

Sorry for the late reply! Part of why I am contemplating whether I am retiring from debating or just taking a break has to do with me working full time, being a PhD student, teaching in college part time, and publishing research. I am currently leading a research team and I saw this message and honestly forgot to reply. I honestly can’t say I know what was better, just more that I like the written debate sphere and don’t want it to die out. If I come back great if not I still want to be a spectator lol! I can’t say much on quality because when I debated on debate art, I did have a lot of wins from people not replying while on this site most of the people seem to reply. On debate art I never debated the same person twice while here it is like I have more long standing rivalries (If you can call it that. I’ve only been on here about a year lol). But I will say my closet debate was on debate art. It was voted to a draw and people were arguing who won in the comments. What was funny about that debate, is it changed how I approached debate entirely and also inspired me to write a law article that I spoke on at a research conference. It may be getting published, but I have a lot going on where it isn’t my highest priority. If we talk about where I feel the tightest fit of community I like here the best. The people here are extremely friendly yet competitive. I just saw less and less people which had me thinking lol! But maybe it is a touch of sadness knowing I may or may not be returning to debate, because I want the sphere open lol! I think after my last debate I will take some time before I make my decision. It’s more do I need to put time and effort into other things that build my resume up so I end up at a high end job, or can I do that plus debate lol!

I’ve always been curious of that format, but have been nervous to try it lol! Some of the topics chosen I have no clue about. Then the double wammy is you may have to debate on a position you don’t agree with. Granted that could be the fun in it lol!

You do still seem pretty active. Granted I’m not on much so what is active to me may be different lol

I’ve thought about this and a big reason I haven’t been posting much here or anywhere (beyond just being extremely busy in life) is that…I really don’t want to be arguing against chat Gpt lol. And I’m pretty sure these days it would be overwhelmingly common

Yeah I think it’s unlikely you’d be straight up arguing with ChatGPT but copy pasting your argument and then “help me attack this” then basically paraphrasing etc. But idk. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing in a way, augmentation in a sense. Just an early example of what we’ll be dealing with in literally everything soon lol

I'd rather people showed my arguments and their arguments to ChatGPT before responding to something I said, because it might help them avoid some pretty common fallacies.

It would definitely make both sides better for sure. But there’s something pure about the old way. Pure mind on mind. Maybe I’m just being a Luddite tho lol. I’m pretty singularity pilled at this point and feeling wistful now that the age of human obsolescence is upon us

People could still come up with original arguments even if they fail to convince the AI, I think most people would have the judgment to see when the AI is hallucinating or when to defer to their own instincts. Talking to the AI is really just to add clarity.

For its knowledge, AI [I don't care which provider] is totally dependent on its programmer[s] to provide the means to research and conclude anything. As constructed, wired, and activated, not a single thought flows through AI components that is not first suggested by a programmer. If I can demonstrate that Chat GPT, for example, hasn't a clue how to translate Egyptian hieroglyphs to English, or any other human language, when Egyptologists around the world can do so, and me, too, to an elementary extent, I conclude that the number of AI programmers who can do it count less than 1 in 10000. The same is probably true in any number of detailed disciplines in any number of fields. Period.

I'll give you a personal discovery. More than a year ago, I asked Chat GPT to tell me what time it was on Mars at that moment at the same coordinates on which I live on Earth. I asked the question at 4am the morning after the news was announced by NASA that coordinatre/time information on the entire surface of Mars was announced, but Chat GPT told me it could not be calculated. Fault of programming. However, my own Apple Siri [same sort of search engine like Google, but far better than Google, which also didn't know how to calculate the answer] had my answer in three seconds, and I asked Siri before Chat GPT.

I don't think AI is going to replace us anytime soon.

AI is getting to the point where it can solve problems humans couldn't solve. Of course it's copying reasoning processes humans use, but that's kind of the point.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/anishasircar/2026/04/17/ai-solved-a-mathematical-problem-that-had-stumped-the-worlds-best-minds-for-decades/

AI is getting to the point...

It should be said that programmers are getting to that point, because I still don't believe AI is capable of independent thought, as demonstrated by my Egyptian hieroglyph translation experiment. As I said, I don't believe 1:10,000 programmers understand that language to feed it to AI. Yes, they could blindly feed the 3,500-plus ideographs to AI, and the separate Roman characters and phonics they represent, but that alone is not expected literacy.