World On the Web: Rules of engagement

World On the Web: Rules of engagement

Tony Woodlief explains how he's going to handle debate in the comboxes: "I will endeavor to exhibit, and will only engage in discourse with those who exhibit, the following qualities." Those are Civility, Logic, and Humility. About Civility he writes: "I think in a Comments forum, however, which endeavors to be something like a roundtable discussion, and where the participants know relatively little about one another's lives, I ought not to attribute motives, ridicule someone's point of view, or speak in a generally combative or mean-spirited manner. Civility doesn't require that I refrain from disagreeing with someone. It means that I begin with the assumptions that: 1) I may be the only Christ someone meets today; 2) the person I'm addressing has good motives; and 3) my responsibility is to make a valuable point, not to score points."