Talk:University of St Andrews Union Debating Society

"Traditions"
The entire section on traditions in this article is very poor and needs to be looked at by someone with the knowledge of the Society. It has serious issues meeting Wikipedia's style guidelines, and has serious issues with NPOV. Can anyone provide assistance to salvage what true/useful information is in the section? Otherwise, I'm just going to erase that section entirely. Riskbreaker2987 (talk) 20:30, 26 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Agreed - I think the whole section should go as NPOV unless some one without WP:COI can do this. Codf1977 (talk) 21:26, 26 January 2010 (UTC)

The information is all correct and accurate - I am a member of this society - it might be poorly written but it is correct and the traditions of this society are a very important part of it since it is the oldest debating society in the world. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.132.174.70 (talk) 17:22, 28 January 2010 (UTC)

The society is the oldest debating society in the world - trinity college's historical society is older but that is not strictly a debating society hence why this society is the oldest. I'm not sure how you can reference this on wiki - except from the university source I provided - it should be noted that this information is factually correct and can be found in the minutes of the society which are in the Library of the university. I'm no wiki editing expert but the official union page can be found here - http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~debates/termsandtraditions.htm - this gives authority to the passage I feel. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.132.174.70 (talk) 17:30, 28 January 2010 (UTC)

I'm sorry to burst this bubble but this society is NOT the oldest in the world, here in Edinburgh the Diagnostic Society is older, being founded as the Dialectic Society in 1787. http://diagnostics.eusa.ed.ac.uk/. Again, this can be backed up by the minutes of the society, kept in the Special Collections of the Edinburgh University Main Library. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.74.116.17 (talk) 09:33, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

This point is much debated - there is much debate as to wether we are the oldest (our society was always a debating society), TCD Hist (older but not a debating society originaly and they got thrown out of college for 100 years or Cambridge's. Edinburgh never enters that discussion and it is generally accepted that the UDS is infact the worlds oldest debating society (and again, the archives for this can be found in the university library)  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 138.251.244.128 (talk) 12:24, 25 March 2010 (UTC)
 * well nothing Debaters like more than Debate - but this is an Encyclopaedia, so if it is not verifiable then I am removing it - any one feel free to added it back if they can support by an independent reliable source. Codf1977 (talk) 12:28, 25 March 2010 (UTC)

As a current board member of the society I'd object that it seems very short sighted to edit that claim. Not only is it accepted by more or less everyone (hardly ever and never officially contested,) it is a significant part of our tradition (however true) and heritage. Any entry on the UDS MUST include that line else be untrue to a proper understanding of the society.

Re-write
I think this article needs a bit of a re-write, to bring it more in line with wikipedia's quality guidelines and better articles within WikiProject Debating like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_Historical_Society (although I am aware this article is itself somewhat flawed)

So I propose merging the historical sections into one more concise and encyclopeadic section, removing content that cannot be verified by third party sources and formatting the presidents list more like an actual wikipedia list, also adding a section about notable alumni, and notable speakers. I would appreciate any comments/help/sources. Xyphoid (talk) 20:07, 29 December 2012 (UTC)

Establishment Date
This page currently states that the Society was formed in 1794, however, the website clearly states that 1794 marked the foundation of the precursor society, the Literary Society. It's actual foundation was in 1890 when the Literary and Classical Society merged to form the new Debating Society.

This also calls into question the veracity of the claim that it is the UK's oldest debating society, the Cambridge Union Society was established in 1815. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Cantab12 (talk • contribs) 21:22, 10 September 2013 (UTC)

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