Frequently Asked Questions

Think of an opinion board as somthing that you can use to organize and your sources. You can create an opinion board for anything you want! Anything from who you think should win the next presidential election, your thoughts on global warming, or even why you think the Cubs are going to win the world series this year.

Let's take global warming as an example. If you're browsing the web and you come across a great blog article, you can post it to your opinion board as a way to organize that source. You can post anything - blog articles, wikipedia entries, NOAA website pages, whatever you want.

You can use opinion boards for two purposes - to organize your thoughts and sources around an existing opinion you have, or to help form an opinion on a topic you're researching. It's up to you! Either way, you can always share your boards with friends on Twitter, Google+ and Facebook.

We think that opinion boards are a great way to organize your thoughts, sources and opinions on topics that matter to you. Organizing your sources can have a great impact on the quality of your arguments on an issue, and you'll probably learn somthing new while posting to your boards and viewing boards that other members have built.

Plus, if you have your sources organized in one spot, you can find them easily. In a debate about global warming with a friend? Pull up your opinion board to have your best sources at your fingertips. No more hunting on Google to pull up that article you read a month ago, searching your browser history or cluttering your existing browser bookmarks.

Check out the about page. There's a section over there that discusses rational debates and rational arguments.

To learn and vote on issues, follow these steps:

1. Search for an issue that interests you by using the search box at the top of every page
2. Read arguments for the various positions on the issue. In the spirit of being Rational, be sure to read arguments from all sides to an issue. Keep an open mind!
3. When you've made up your mind, click the vote box next to the position that you want to vote for:
4. Share the issue with your friends so they can learn and vote too!

Award it! The number of awards is how we sort arguments, so that the best arguments as voted by the community are near the top. To learn more about awards, check out the about page.

If the argument is rational, free of falacies, and backs up purported facts with reliable sources, you should NOT mark the argument as irrational or flag it as inappropriate. Obviously, if the argument is irrational or inappropriate, you should flag it as such.

If you simply don't like or don't agree with a rational argument on this site, the best thing for you to do is to either create a new argument for an opposing viewpoint, or comment on the argument. Commenting is best when you have a few quick remarks to add. Creating a new argument is better when you are countering an argument with another argument.

First, before marking something as irrational, be honest - is the argument or comment actually irrational, or do you just disagree with what the author is saying? If the content is truly irrational, then please mark it as irrational by clicking on the irrational icon:

Read more about how to handle irrational arguments and comments on the about page.

If you see any item on this site that violates our Terms of Use, click the flag icon:

After clicking the icon, a dialog will appear that will allow you to enter a reason why you think the item should be flagged. Flagging an item will alert a site administrator. If the administrator determines that the flagged item violates our terms of use, the item will be removed.

If your argument or comment is marked irrational, the text will be hidden. If this happens to one of your arguments, don't worry - you can still change it! First, take a look at the reasons other people have marked your argument or comment as irrational. You can do this by clicking the 'view' link at the bottom under the dashed line.

Next, edit your argument or comment to make it rational. This could be done by eliminating any fallacies, or by simply making sure that all facts you present are backed up by credible sources.

After you're finished editing your argument or comment, make an appeal by clicking on the link provided on the argument or comment page. A dialog box will appear allowing you to say why you think your argument or comment is now rational. Be sure to be rational when entering this text! The overall appeal, including the existing irrational flags, your updates, and your appeal text will be taken into account when the administrator is deciding. Once the administrator has decided, you will receive an email saying whether or not your appeal was accepted or denied. If you appeal is accepted, all of the irrational flags will be removed and your argument or comment will appear normally on the site. However, if you appeal is denied, you will need to start your editing process over and appeal again.

If your appeals keep getting denied, or if you simply don't want to appeal, you can always delete your argument or comment. Simply click the delete link at the top of your argument or comment's page. Deleting your argument or comment will improve your rationality percentage.

Connecting your account to Facebook is easy! If you don't have an account yet, just look for the 'Sign in with Facebook' button on the homepage or the Sign In and Sign Up pages. If you do have an account, logout and click the 'Sign in with Facebook' button.

Once you are connected, your Opinion Board posts can be shared to facebook automatically! If you don't want a particular post to show up on Facebook, just uncheck the Facebook icon before you post.

If you want to disconnect from facebook, simply remove TheRationalDebate from your list of apps on Facebook.

If you've forgotten your password, click the 'Forgot your password?' link. You can also get to the forgot password page here. A page will come up that will allow you to enter your email address. You'll get an email that will give you instructions on how to reset your password.

If you didn't receive an email after about 5 minutes after signing up, you can request a new confirmation email here.

You can also click the 'Didn't receive confirmation instructions?' link on the Sign Up page. If you're still having problems confirming your account after attempting to resend the confirmation email, please contact us

It's easy to change your account and profile information. Anytime you are logged in, click your name or the down arrow icon to bring up a menu:

1. Click the Edit My Account link to edit your account information. For example, you can change your first and last name, email address, or update your password.
2. Click the Edit My Profile link to edit your profile information. For example, you can change your Profile Image, About Me, and Political View