User:Jasonnewyork

There are some surprisingly smart, articulate editors on Wikipedia on both sides of most debates I've seen. It's refreshing to see genuine reason and logic employed within a civil argument. Here's hoping the outliers come around to that way of thinking.

Some concepts that I believe contribute to healthy, rational debate:


 * 1. Be able to envision changing your mind if sufficient evidence is presented.
 * 2. Recognize that if an argument you're using is proven faulty, you should stop using it.
 * 3. Ensure that one argument is resolved before opening another one.
 * 4. Use words instead of acronyms or links within a debate.  (I understand and embrace the WP guidelines, but just citing an acronym or a link without a cogent argument behind it often leads to confusion and doesn't move the debate forward as effectively as it might.)
 * 5. Abide by the rules of reason and logic, and avoid fallacies.
 * 6. Try to use the type of tone you would want to hear from the opposing side.
 * 7. Be the bigger person as often as you can.

Wikipedia insight: On Wikipedia, just like in real life, our best minds do not go into politics.