Hall of Fame
Showcases the Hall of Fame as nominated by the DebateArt community.
About
The Hall of Fame honors the very best users, debates, and threads this site has to offer. The Hall of Fame, as an institution, honors a tradition begun on another site, and hopes to continue a legacy of lauding the arts of debate and rhetoric, which are the basis of this site. Each year, beginning in October 2019, the site usership shall nominate and elect three inductees into each of the three award categories (users, debates, and threads). The election will occur in two phases, a nomination phase and a voting phase. The nomination phase puts forward nominees for induction, and the voting phase selects which of the nominees will ultimately be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Each inducted user may be honored with a write up by a user of their choice, to highlight the inductee's character, achievements, and contributions to DART. When none is forthcoming, a volunteer may stand in. Writeups may always be refined and/or replaced at the whim of the inductee. It is our wish that, as a community, people will always come to DART to engage in an honest, curious, and vigorous exploration of ideas. This site is unique among social websites in that it places special emphasis on intellect and rhetoric. DART's mission is to be a place where people can come to learn, to discuss, and to grow as thinkers and communicators. The Hall of Fame, at its best, is a testament to that mission, and strives to recognize those debates, threads, and users which add most significantly to the fabric of this amazing community.
Hall of Fame I (2019)
Pursuant to the first Hall of Fame election process, the following are inducted into the DebateArt.com Hall of Fame:
-- Users --
Without a doubt, RationalMadman is a force to be reckoned with and deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. Within a year of joining the site, RM became the first person to achieve every single site medal. He was one of the first to be on the top of the leaderboard; he is one of the most prolific users on the site, having completed nearly 200 debates, countless rap battles, music battles, and forum posts.
What makes RationalMadman unique is the fact that he’s willing to take debate topics that are unfamiliar to most and is willing to take controversial standpoints. Additionally, he has cast over 300 debate votes, making him one of the most active voters on this site. This metric doesn’t even begin to describe how much impact he has had on the site.
Without RationalMadman, this site would be much more pedestrian. -Virtuoso
-- Debates --
This was a high-quality debate by two obviously talented debaters--one who I knew well, one who I did not. It clearly generated interest on the site, with a sizable number of comments and multiple votes, and it is a prime example of the civil yet thoughtful debate we want to promote on the site. Lots of interesting clash and clearly well-researched, the excellence of this debate speaks for itself. -bsh1
Debaters: bmdrocks21 vs. whiteflame
URL: https://www.debateart.com/debates/1235-firing-squad-is-the-best-form-of-capital-punishment
-- Threads --
A heartfelt original post which garnered more likes than any other post in the site history, earning RationalMadman the unique medal Friend Of The Crowd.
Said post has been imitated innumerable times, which reminds us of the words of Oscar Wilde: “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.”
-Barney
Creator: RationalMadman
Hall of Fame II (2020)
Pursuant to the second Hall of Fame election process, the following are inducted into the DebateArt.com Hall of Fame:
-- Users --
He’s undefeated at 88 wins and counting. His style of debate is well-organized and logical, yet also interjected with some humor. This has allowed him to reach a rating nearly 200 points ahead of his nearest rival. But more than just being a good debater, he is a good person. This combination of formidable debating skills and an approachable friendliness should earn him a place in the Hall of Fame. -SirAnonymous
-- Debates --
This was an intense debate between two incredible debaters that ended up being one of the hardest decisions I have had to make as a judge. As someone who has had the pleasure of debating bsh1 twice before, he brought his best to this debate, and I was impressed to see blamonkey rise to the challenge. These are two debaters for whom I have a great deal of respect, and they put on a clinic in a debate that rivals the best I have read on both DA and DDO. This is well worth the read for anyone who wants to see the best the site has to offer. -whiteflame
URL: https://www.debateart.com/debates/1702-resolved-the-us-should-institute-congressional-term-limits
-- Threads --
The DART Bard, created by the user, SirAnonymous, seems like a normal DramaAlert esc news source discussing the topics. However, when you read it, it is much more than just that. SirAnonymous creates fictional character’s to relay the news to the people of DART in each characters own unique way. The DART Bard is extremely well written, comical, and most importantly, gives you the news going on in DART. This piece of work is always funny and informative, leaving the users of DART craving for another edition everytime! This thread would eventually become a Hall of Fame thread, and I am glad it was nominated sooner rather than later. -SupaDudz
Creator: SirAnonymous
URL: https://www.debateart.com/forum/topics/3499-dart-bard-1st-edition-1-3-2020
-- Misc. --
This year we had a fun category for things which while memorable, were unique in value propositions from what the other categories traditionally reward.
It is certainly interesting to see unorthodox discussions about our site’s users (especially in a positive light), with battles that intend no serious harm whatsoever. -Intelligence_06
Creator: RationalMadman
URL: https://www.debateart.com/forum/topics/4701/post-links/196478
Hall of Fame III (2021)
Pursuant to the third Hall of Fame election process, the following are inducted into the DebateArt.com Hall of Fame:
-- Users --
Dr. whiteflame always rises to meet the challenge, such that it is not hyperbole to say he is the apex member of this debating community. That he still makes the time for this, even after finishing his PhD and getting married, says a ton about his dedication. The core thing to understand about whiteflame is that he loves every aspect of debates. The overwhelming quality and thoughtfulness of his own debates speaks for themselves. As a voter he takes equal delight in following an epistemological kritik down the rabbit hole, or just appreciating a well executed comedic argument. Even with short notice, he honors requests to vote on even the most verbose offerings. With sufficient notice, he frequently casts several page votes, periodically being more detailed and knowledgeable to the subject matter than said debates themselves; with the quality of such further magnified by him doing that without assigning points for outside content. Put simply, whiteflame is the very best of us.
-Barney
-- Debates --
When an RFD on a debate is over 15 pages long, that tells you something about the debate's quality and intensity. Little needs to be said about the two debaters in this one: both MisterChris and Undefeatable are strong debaters, and I would go so far as to say that this is Undefeatable's best work I've read to date. Each approaches the topic via multiple avenues and works hard to both defend their arguments and assail those of the other side. There are many debates that could fit this description, but what sets this apart is the degree to which both sides commit. I've seen extensive debates like this play out over multiple rounds before and watched multiple arguments either dwindle or fall by the wayside when things got complex. It's incredible to watch these two debaters juggle all the arguments and keep all the balls in the air throughout. -whiteflame
Debaters: Undefeatable vs. MisterChris
-- Threads --
Why did I vote for "WHY are we BANNING WYLTED?" as one of the top topics of the year?
Highly representative of our little cadre and how we do
25 different posters across 288 posts.
Posted in the wrong forum
Focused on the limits of free speech (we have this conversation almost constantly in a lot of little ways)
Erred on the side of free speech
Lost the thread of our thesis many times
devolved into irrelevant dogfights and crosstalk frequently
continued arguing long after the question was decided
I like that minds were changed by way of debate- that rarely happens on this site but persuasion is our ultimate purpose here so it's nice to see a bit of friendly persuasion on display occasionally
Dramatic tension dénouementing in Wylted's return. Has anybody alt'd harder than Wylted and still been allowed to return? Drama.
-oromagi
Creator: Lunatic
URL: https://www.debateart.com/forum/topics/5791-why-are-we-banning-wylted
Hall of Fame IV (2022)
-- Users --
As the first non-native English language debater to be honored with a place in DART's Hall of Fame, as well as the first non-American, and the youngest debater to be so honored, Intelligence_06 contributes some serious diversity of perspective to DART as well as a tremendous talent for persuasive argument. Not everybody knows that Intelligence_06 joined in April 2020 as User_06 and cranked out 50 debates in 3 months, rapidly improving his game against some of the best debaters on the site before switching his username to Intelligence. True to his new handle, Intel upped his game until achieving #2 in the rankings with the third highest number of debate wins on this site and among the highest like:posts ratios in the forums. Overcoming a 3 month long string of losses earlier this year, Intel hit his stride with a four-month long string of wins to surpass the unbeaten Barney and become only the second debater to break 1800. Intel is most proud of the potent and compelling argument he presented in Atheists Have a Burden of Proof. Truly, Intel has earned a reputation as one of DART's most impressive contenders, and all debaters tremble at the prospect of Intel's continued improvement. -oromagi
-- Debates --
THBT: On balance, the US ought to make abortion illegal.
Not to toot my own horn here, but a debate is a two person effort and Whiteflames performed exceptionally well. The matchup itself of this debate elicited much interest from the community, as evidenced through the 275 comments. Furthermore, I may have to verify this, but I believe that this is the debate with the most votes (serious debate, being any with a no forfeit and an r1 of more than 100 characters), with votes from the likes of Barney and MisterChris. -Bones (placeholder)
Debaters: Bones vs. whiteflame URL: https://www.debateart.com/debates/3528
-- Threads --
This community started as a refugees from debate.org (DDO), a site which will always cause mixed emotions to say the least. While most of us declared it dead years ago, the site still existed. This came to an end on June 5th, 2022. Just over a week before that, Lemming alerted us all that the owners had done a single act of goodwill for the userbase, which was to allow members to download their data. DDO is also preserved in the Internet Archive, including most subpages such as the leaderboard. -Barney
Creator: Lemming URL: https://www.debateart.com/forum/topics/7604-ddo-is-shutting-down
Hall of Fame V (2024)
This year the winners were decreased to two per category, in addition to merging miscellaneous and threads so as to be more inclusive while not diluting the HoF. Due to a continuous stalemate on tied runnerups, two users were still inducted.
Pursuant to the first Hall of Fame election process, the following are inducted into the DebateArt.com Hall of Fame:
--Users--
165 IQ, ex-President of DART, the guy your mother warned you not to hang around with... He's that guy. Homophobic, misogynistic, racist and worst of all a good family man and Christian, this is Wylted.
He's apparently funny too, you'd need to hide your wife from him but he's a devout Christian and would never cheat unless it's with Salma Hayek, God allows all men 1 exception, or more as Trump would say.
He will get you riled up in all kinds of ways, you can never tell what he'll do next... Well you can tell it will seem stupid until it's not.
At first that's your guy, Wylted. Eventually that's your fear, Wylted. Finally, you feel something down there, that's your d- *censored by avid first amendment supporting anti-corporation private military corporation, Ponikshiy Inc.*
-RationalMadman
--Debates--
--Misc.--
This whole thread started because spam threads were outlawed... it serves the same function as a spam thread, but you have to think of a thought in order to post something. So it's able to continue on without mods ruining it, because it isn't a spam thread.
I think this thread is a great piece of site culture. And I think it's closer in terms of content to the "Record Attempt at Most Posts" thread from DDO than the DART version that got put on read-only.
-MHarman
Creator: Reece101 https://www.debateart.com/forum/topics/6249-if-you-have-a-random-thought-post-it-here
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