[Campaigns-l] Tabs v.s. tables or paragraphs for pro et con

Tue Aug 8 23:40:50 UTC 2006

Hi,

I agree with Jennifer. I think it matters a lot to have the pro et con
arguments close to each other. Some sort of a table might be the thing ?  

In addition that will mean that 
- the  conterarguments to the pro et con arguments can also be close to them. 
- there can be several lines of arguments pertaining the issue at hand. In the
current example perhaps ( although I do not know the debate) arguments for and
against legalisation of cannabis/marijuana  in medication as opposed to a
totally free market, and further devided by  prescription -in common usage-
v.s. non-prescription. I do not know how viable those arguments, but put them
forward to illustrate the principle.

The benefit of the pro- et con tabs is that it provides some sort of structure,
but perhaps that can also be provided by a specially made table. One
disadvantage of the table, is that it is quite tedious to edit. If some sort of
aid to editing tables in wikimedia wikis was contrived, that would be of great
benefit to very many users of the software, in Wikipedia, wikia and elsewhere.

Regards,
Morten

--- "Jennifer M." <jenniferforunity at gmail.com> wrote:

> I agree that tabs may lead to "two extremes" writing.
> 
> I was looking at the Marijuana page and the people against legalization
> wrote something about "pot has lots of unstudied chemicals in it so it's
> unethical to experiment on people"... but the same reasoning means we should
> ban herbal supplements and tobacco.  Most herbal supplements are taken for
> *health reasons* rather than "to get a buzz" yet they don't even have their
> *main* ingredient tested for efficacy and safety.
> 
> This particular argument seems like it's a "pro legalization" argument and
> so it didn't seem like it would be right to edit the "Con" page to include
> this note about the logical extensions of the reasoning to something many
> people would object to (making tobacco illegal).
> 
> Personally, I'd rather keep the pro and con on the *same* page and give them
> equal time on each sub issue.  For example, wikipedia has an article on the
> simplification of Chinese characters with a big section of the debate about
> simplification that I quite like:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simplified_Chinese_character
> 
> They put *each argument* in a list and gave the pro versus con on each
> argument right next to the response where you can compare them on the same
> screen instead of bouncing back and forth.  If you allow debate on the pages
> it's even worse... because if an argument has both sides which page does it
> belong on, pro or con?  If you're just looking for a specific sub argument
> you have to scan both pages rather than just one.
> 
> -Jennifer
> 
> On 8/5/06, Chad Lupkes <chadlupkes at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Don't forget, this is in infancy right now.  General subjects might not be
> > appropriate for pro/con arguments, because there are so many details that
> > need to be worked out.  As the site evolves and grows, we'll see articles
> > like Space split off into multiple sub-debates.  And yes, there are people
> > who argue that the Moon is a goal but that Mars is a waste of time, and
> > people who argue the opposite.  It shows the lack of long term vision in
> our
> > culture right now.
> >
> > What about putting borders around the unused tabs without the color?
> >
> > Chad
> >
> >
> > On 8/5/06, YYK H <y2keynes at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > I think they are pretty cool.  Your wife may be right about the colour
> > > though... not that it's that hard to tell but I think less obstacle is
> > > better to engage people...
> > >
> > > While the tabs are useful, I worry that it may some how frame the
> > > discussion into two extreme.  For sure there will be issues that
> > > really should be just black and white but what about those that can
> > > have spectrum of prespectives?  I am not sure if it can be done (or if
> > > it's even necessary)... but say... for environmental protection...
> > > it's probably not just Pro or Con... or Intervention or
> > > non-intervention but may be in what situation should intervention be
> > > made.  Or in the space exploration example...  is it possible to have
> > > someone argue for, may be, exploration to upper orbit... or moon...
> > > but not mars and beyond?
> > >
> > > Kenny
> > >
> > >
> > > On 8/4/06, Chad Lupkes < chadlupkes at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Ok, I've copied the tab templates from More Perfect, and Waldsen and I
> > > are
> > > > experimenting with them.
> > > >
> > > > http://campaigns.wikia.com/wiki/Marijuana
> > > >
> > > > http://campaigns.wikia.com/wiki/Space_Exploration
> > > >
> > > > The only issue I have right now is the colors, and my wife says that
> > > it
> > > > might not be obvious to people unfamiliar with the site that they are
> > > tabs
> > > > that move from place to place.  I think a single click would provide
> > > that
> > > > knowledge.
> > > >
> > > > What do people think?
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Chad
> > > > _______________________________________________
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