There has been much discussion on CreateDebate about the use / abuse of downvotes on the site and certain participants getting “mass” downvoted, causing their efficiency score to drop dramatically.  In order to combat this problem and provide greater transparency around voting, we have decided to implement the following:

1. Each downvote now costs the downvoter 1 Reward Point.
2. The downvote is now displayed in the User’s Reward Point history.

In our opinion, the main problem isn’t downvotes, per se, but rather encouraging responsible downvoting.  We believe that flawed logic or inherently poor arguments should be downvoted, but that participants should not mass downvote a person with whom they disagree.

In our opinion, downvoting should be reserved for poorly thought out, offensive, stupid, or totally-off-base arguments.  If you disagree strongly with someone’s argument, then we encourage you to rebut their argument, citing logical fallacies, incorrect information, or poor argumentation.  In this way you can help maintain the integrity of CreateDebate and help that participant to understand what you disagree with in their argument.

If you need some reminders on how to write strong arguments, check out our previous blog post on this exact topic.

Congratulations to the winners of each of the three contests that CreateDebate ran as part of our  Mental Stimulus Package in February.  This month, we gave away ninety-five books from Hachette Book Group and a $20 gift certificate to Clutch Tees.

Love Is In the Air Contest Results

Contest	Winner	Debate
Highest Debate Score	Frenchieak	Valentine’s Day!
Most Debate Views	DaWolfman	Does this saying apply to you on Valentine’s Day?
Judge’s Choice	Rothl	Should 7th grade students be allowed to use this website?
Most Points #1	JakeJ	n/a
Most Points #2	joecavalry	n/a

Celebrating Diversity Contest Results

Contest	Winner	Debate
Highest Debate Score	DaWolfman	Who was/is the greatest civil rights leader?
Most Debate Views	Frenchieak	The New Pepsi Symbol?
Judge’s Choice	Xaeon	Is it acceptable to impinge on certain civil liberties for the sake of national security?
Most Points #1	joecavalry	n/a
Most Points #2	JakeJ	n/a

Show Your Tees Contest Results

Congratulations to Sparsley for proposing the Best Original T-Shirt Design for Clutch Tees as voted on by the CreateDebate community. For his creativity, Sparsley has earned a $20 gift certificate to Clutch Tees.