From the few debates I’ve had over twitter I can safely say the experience is severely lacking and no, that’s not a comment on my debating skills. On twitter tracking conversations is generally fine when limited to two participants. As soon as more people start joining in, it just becomes a hectic mess. Sure hashtags help a bit, but they don’t offer anything like the structure required for a decent debate.
That’s where Melbourne based company Barkles, headed up by CEO Diesel Laws, hopes to succeed. By giving users a central place to debate a topic and then earn rewards for sharing their opinion. The service is still yet to launch, though you can sign up for an invite on their website.
The idea itself is novel, an organised meeting place for debates is something I can see a market for. Though the brevity of them, as suggested by the intro video (see below), raises a few questions. Can anything substantial be said in a short debate?
The obvious answer here is to look at twitter. Some incredibly important messages have been transmitted in 140 characters. And like Shakespeare I have long believed limiting creative expression in certain ways (like a character limit) can increase the creativity of the work. This concept could work spectacularly.
It could also be gamed. The intro video mentions that a debate is over after one side reaches 25 responses. What’s to spot a group of friends or someone with enough accounts to spam on side of the debate. Granted I’m sure the devs at Barkles have already thought of this, so I’m keen to see what they come up with.
Do you have debates on the internet? Let me know in the comments.
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