search

debatecore / debate-tools

Battle-tested utilities to aid with Oxford format debates.
https://tools.debateco.re
GNU Affero General Public License v3.0
1 stars 3 forks source link

create debate configuration presets #5

Open Mateusz-Dobrzynski opened 7 months ago

Mateusz-Dobrzynski commented 7 months ago

Proposed changes

In a setup view, one can pick predefined debate configurations based on existing Oxford Debate tournaments (Musketeers of Words, Poznań Debate League, etc.). Upon choosing a preset, the debate is configured in accordance with rules of a given tournament. The UI elements change so that the user can see what the preset consists of before starting a debate.

Rationale

Debates are usually conducted during tournaments or to prepare for one. With this enhancement in place, the user doesn't need to memorize all of the information regarding the formula of a particular tournament, just its name. This will greatly improve user experience.

jakubmanczak commented 7 months ago

Hey, great idea! This is actually quite similar to something I was thinking about implementing this time around with the current rewrite, being multiple saveable configurations you could switch between.

I'm curious how often these standard rules for a given tournament change, though. Each time around there's people asking the organisers what the rules will be, and the theoretical changes as well as the uncertainty in whether the ruleset here matches what's dictated by the tournament might become a burden. 🤔

Mateusz-Dobrzynski commented 7 months ago

I don't think the organizers would change the rules of their tournaments, as it would cause needless confusion.

Case in point: Musketeers of Words updated their principles document but the rules of the debate itself are the same as in 2023. Other than that, since their ruleset is public, it's easy to verify if our implementation is correct.

It's a bit worse with tournaments that don't publish their rules, e.g. Poznań Debate League. There we have to rely on the fact that changing the rules of the tournament doesn't lie within the organizers' interest.

jakubmanczak commented 7 months ago

A preset file is now present as of 24c4aa04ecf944f5f610740808d571e149fdc49d. Applying them, as well as other use cases and shenanigans to be done later.

jakubmanczak commented 3 months ago

Musketeers of Words updated their principles document but the rules of the debate itself are the same as in 2023.

Aged like milk.

But easily mitigated, I think, by just adding the year of last update. Are the rules the same? Great! No need to update. Organizer can request a bump in version or just leave it at that. Rule change? The preset is clear in what it represents. Organizer can request a change to the preset or just leave it at that.

Whatever.