Battle Arena Rules

[Cosmic Ocean]

BATTLE ARENA RULES

1.) General Rules - All GENERAL RULES apply here.

2.) Parameters – OPs (original posters) must state their battle parameters clearly.  Don’t just say “Halo vs. Firefly” or “Gandalf vs. Merlin” in your OP.  You need to state your battle setting and its parameters clearly (objective setting, biased setting?) as well as any other relevant information to the battle.  Are both sides at the peaks of their abilities?  Are any weapons or feats on one side or both disqualified for the sake of the debate?  Why?  OPs have the final word about parameters and they are allowed to change them mid-debate if an issue arises as long as it is reasonable to do so.

3.) Canon - Established canon sources are the only acceptable sources unless otherwise mentioned by the OP in a VERSUS BATTLE.  Any non-canon material is forbidden to use in the Arena unless the OP is pitting two sides together based only on both sides’ non-canonical materials or the OP has made it clear that the use of canon and non-canon are equally allowed for his/her specific battle.  In other words, canon is the default unless specifically contradicted by the OP.  Wikis are allowed and even encouraged as good sources of canon information in the Arena, but not just any wikis.  There are lots of poor and neglected fan made wikis out there that are very unprofessional in their sourcing and have sloppy original research or biased extrapolations.  Use commonly accepted wikis.  Any debates about canon validity will be decided by the OP, or in the case of his/her absence or unreasonable parameter changes, a moderator.

4.) Sourcing - Provide proper sourcing for any important and specifics information you contribute.  Some information is common knowledge and doesn’t need sourcing, such as the fact that Star Trek warp drive allows travel times that exceed the speed of light, or that the Death Star is capable of wiping out planets.  We are not totally anal about sourcing and we are very tolerant with allowing common claims without having to be backed up.  But any specifics, especially technical specifics, or disputed facts, do need to be sourced.  Book pages, episode numbers, video clips, wiki quotes and links, author statements, tech manuals, canon images, etc are all acceptable sources.  

5.) Establishment Disagreements - You are allowed to disagree with established information and canon material but don’t expect to be taken seriously (or tolerated by the mods) if you don’t present evidence to back up such a bold disagreement.  Statements such as “Mass Effect science is awful and shouldn’t be relevant to this battle” in the context of a battle containing the Mass Effect universe, or “The Memory Alpha wiki is a joke and should be ignored” in the context of a battle containing the Star Trek universe, will not be tolerated unless you can back it up or it’s relevant to the discussion.

6.) When Not Sourcing - Most statements are usually made by members in the format of stating examples they know and describing the results of canonical actions relevant to making decisions about the battle.  That’s okay and it doesn’t need to be sourced unless so asked by another member.  Nevertheless, argue with sound logic free of fallacies, don’t embellish examples and feats (you’ll be caught quickly if you do), and make sure your information is correct before presenting it as true.

7.) Burden of Proof - The burden of proof lies on the person making the claim.  No one is expected to disprove your claim unless you can first prove it to begin with.  “You can’t disprove my claim so you should give me the benefit of the doubt even if I can’t prove my claim” will not be tolerated.  Evidence should be presented as excerpts from sources, links to sources, page numbers, video clips, episode numbers, canon images, etc.  If you make a disputed claim and you can’t back it up, don’t expect your claim to be taken seriously.

8.) Outside Consensus - Consensus reached by other forums are of no concern here.  You may rehash arguments made on other forums of course, but this forum is for fresh discussion and our unique way of going about things.  Make your own arguments based on your own research.

9.) Willful Ignorance - You are expected to know what you’re talking about.  This means you must have a solid grasp over the scientific, historical, or other principles related to what you are talking about.  If you are ignorant about something, stay out of it.  An ignorant opinion is a useless opinion for our purposes.  If you have to make a comment even though you are ignorant about it, you must admit your ignorance in the comment.  Any failure on your part to present accurate information (real life or in-universe) will not be tolerated.  A consistent use of logical fallacies will not be tolerated.  If you are proven wrong and the consensus is against you, arguing in bad faith will not be tolerated.  This forum can only function if all members respect the idea of using logical and scientific analyses of the technologies being debated.  The same applies for debates that don’t concern science but concern the analogues for their respected fields.

10.) Objectivity - Real world objective reality and all that comes with it are implicit to being linked to the confines of common sense in these versus debates with in-universe canon that nevertheless edits and tweaks such things.  Debates that end up with someone saying: “Spider-Man would be able to beat Superman in New York because when Superman enters the Marvel Universe he’ll cease to be the true Superman” are terrible debates and not tolerated on this forum.  Star Trek ship communication does not cease to function if the OP allows Starfleet ships to enter their opponent’s universe that doesn’t happen to utilize subspace in its mythos.  Specifics should be decided by the OP in the OP.