Debating / Day 5 Comment on a Blog Post You Don’t Agree With

May 5, 2008 at 10:59 pm | In 31 Day Comment Challenge, Blogging, comment08 | 2 Comments
Tags: 31 day challenge, blog posts, comment08, debating, disagreeing, HeyMonkeyBrain.com, Squidoo

Two Heads Debating Day 5 of the 31 day challenge is to stir up some debate, or at least comment on a blog post you don’t agree with.

The purpose of this activity to think about how to disagree and possibly create a debate within a blog.

I realized that have already been moderating a debate for a couple of months on Squidoo.

Squidoo Debates – Hey MonkeyBrain

I am one of the Giant Squids on Squidoo, a platform designed to make it easy for anyone, for free, to set up a webpages (or lens) quickly on a topic he or she is passionate about or knows a lot about.

The HeyMonkeyBrain.com part of Squidoo allows lensmasters to a debate lens about anything topic you want people to talk about and then be the ringleader.

I created one of the early debate lenses looking at two related topics, Obama or Clinton – Who will be the Dems Nominee? Together – An Awesome Democratic Ticket? Monitoring the debate that has raged on this lens for the past two months has been quite an experience in diplomacy.

HeyMonkeyBrain.com could be used by educators a way of starting an online debate for students. Any lens that would be created would, however be available to the public and could receive public comments. I don’t believe anyone is using HeyMonkeyBrain.com yet for an educational debate. Many of the debate topics are on amusing topics. You can see the list of top debates at Top 50 Debates.

Activity 5: Comment on a Blog Post You Don’t Agree With

The activity is to find a blog post where you don’t agree with the author, leave a comment and bring up your point of disagreement in your comment.

Accomplishments Day 5

1. Follow up on Day 4’s posting remarks.
2. Realize I’ve been hosting a debate with the Squidoo lens on Clinton vs. Obama.
3. Posting a comment about concerns about the selection of advertisers I have with coComment as a way of getting people to comment (perhaps a bit of Activity 6 also).
4. Wrote and posted Day 5 comments.
5. Making it through the first day of a new summer session.

Reflections on the 31 Day Comments Challenge

I read the blog post about the 10 Rules for Blog Debates. The comment that stuck out for me the most was “Any attack on a blog is a public attack.” This got me thinking about how much debate I was willing to stir up with this activity and I realized that the answer was not an awful lot.

Revelations: I realized that I’ve been hosting a big debate on the Democratic Nominees on Squidoo HeyMonkeyBrain.com. I learned something about myself in the process, that I am not inclined to provoke a debate in person and especially not in a blog. I also learned that I am still very leery of posting comments that I know will become part of a permanent Internet blog record and took heed with a comment posted on the 10 Rules for Blog Debates by Bill Scott, that “Remember that once your post is submitted it will be read by many and possibly used against you later. Always examine your motives before you post.” For me, I think his sage wisdom will serve as my Golden Rule of Internet Blog posting.

Image Source: Lynne Lancaster. Female Chat. Royalty Free Use.
This blog post is part of The Comment Challenge, comment08.

2 Comments

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I hadn’t seen Hey Monkey Brains before. It was fun to look at because there are so many rather quirky debates. I’m intrigued by the interesting twist of your question: “Note: If you are voting Republican, who would you like to see run against the Republican Nominee?” It was really hard for me to answer which is probably a good thing. I had to stop and think. In the end I backed out and didn’t post. So now I’ve landed back here wondering if you can explain your thinking in posting the question that way?

bgilgoff — May 7, 2008 #
Betty

Thanks for the post. It looks like you found the blog.

I remember hearing the adage to never discuss religion or politics. Even though the Clinton vs. Obama debate was a logical one for the HeyMonkeyBrains, it was a political topic.

I live in a family that is mixed Republicans and Democrats, so I wanted people who were Republicans to be able to feel that they could comment also. I think the “if you are voting Republican” statement covers Republicans and anyone else who might not be a registered Republican, but has decided to vote Republican like Independents or the 1/2 of the Democrats who won’t have their candidate be the Democratic nominee, since the Democratic race is so split.

Perhaps I could have asked “Who do you think McCain has a better chance of winning against in November?”

drdyer — May 8, 2008 #