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.