A member of this forum recently suggested to me that I open up a virtual debate section. Now that I have, perhaps we should use this thread as a place to consider create a standard system of rules for such debates. If you would like to post here, I would be more than happy to turn this into a sticky for easy access.

There probably needs to be some type of word limit in place. Honestly, I have no idea how many words the average 1AR would be, so perhaps someone with some experience with virtual debates could provide some input.

There should be a word limit, and for greater participation we should only use old resolutions unless challenged otherwise.

Cross-x.com has a pretty good tutorial and guidelines for virtual debates: http://www.cross-x.com/vb/showthread.php?t=982717

250 wpm sound about right
AC 1500 words
NC 1750 words
1AR 1000 words
NR 1500 words
2AR 750 words

Old wrote:250 wpm sound about right
AC 1500 words
NC 1750 words
1AR 1000 words
NR 1500 words
2AR 750 words

this sounds good, also, we should have a limit on CX questions (maybe 20, 30?)

Alex Bennett wrote:

Old wrote:250 wpm sound about right
AC 1500 words
NC 1750 words
1AR 1000 words
NR 1500 words
2AR 750 words

this sounds good, also, we should have a limit on CX questions (maybe 20, 30?)

Cross-x.com does a 24 hour cross-x period where the person who is answering questions is expected to check for questions a reasonable amount of times. 20-30 should be a soft cap (ie not a firm number, just kinda a guideline).

People should be able to debate whatever topic they want (ie it could be some topic that wasn't chosen, or that they thought up, or whatever). So long as both debaters agree to the topic/word limits/cross-x guidelines, it's prolly ok if people don't go directly by the book.