Wikidebates:Founder statement

Greetings, and welcome to Wikidebates.

When forming my own opinions about controversial subjects, I have sought, but failed to find, a general debate Web site exhibiting the best arguments from both sides of the issues, with claims and rebuttals side-by-side on the same page. Although Wikipedia provides an excellent start for understanding such issues, and special-interest sites provide plenty of detail, an encyclopedia is no place for a thorough debate, and special-interest sites are scattered and have the seductive power to exclude opposing arguments.

Wikidebates is an experimental attempt at becoming such a general debate Web site. Being a wiki, it could easily fail if abusers overwhelm any control systems devised by the fair and honest users. Nevertheless, inspired by the unlikely success of Wikipedia, let us give it a try.

Jeff Laird

March 24, 2008