Repository
https://github.com/samvanemelen/debato
introduction
In only two months, debato.org grew from an idea to a fully functional platform. Thanks to the feedback received by many, functions kept being added. Although some features are still to be implemented, the platform is in a first usable state on multiple devices. This third update blog will show you the changes made in the past two weeks
What is debato?
You can find debato at https://debato.org
Debato is an online platform that accommodates online debates on topics big an small. We are all passionate about certain topics and inevitably it can happen that a difference in opinion leads to conversations that resemble a bottomless pit of arguments and acquisitions. This results in many people not even getting involved or finding it a waste of time to formulate their points of view. By filtering the thoughtful arguments and by structuring arguments and sub-discussions, debato allows anyone to share their thoughts and points of view in a clear way. And why stop there? Because debato is built on the decentralized Steem blockchain, writing thoughtful and interesting arguments or discussions gets rewarded as well.
Main changes
- Added wallet operations - In the wallet section of the profile you can see the funds of any user. Common operations such as transferring funds, powering up/down, claiming rewards or delegating to a user can now be done without leaving debato. This removes the need of users to go to another website for those operations, making debato a stand-alone platform.
- Added the feature for hot posts - As mentioned by @ahyar92 , filtering on hot discussions is definitely an interesting way to browse discussions. A new tab has been added to filter quickly rising discussions and the 'hotness' is also calculated for each discussion. When a certain threshold is reached, the post will also get a symbol to indicate that it is a hot topic.
- Improved discussion, argument and comment layout. In stead of having basic html elements with the arguments and upvote buttons, a discussion now contains structured argument 'cards'. These make arguments on discussions easier to read. The same has been done for comments in the comment section.
Compatible with touchscreen, mobile and small devices. The responsive layout has been optimized for small screens and touch screens. When the window gets to a certain width, debato shifts to a mobile layout with an expandable menu.
Added a timer to error/warning/success messages This bar will indicate when the message closes automatically so the user knows he does not have to close it manually
JSON of discussions is improved to properly store layout data and line breaks of the discussion context The discussion context is stored in the json metadata of the post. This way it remains possible to post a custom body to be displayed on other platforms (to redirect to debato.org) There are limitations to what you can store in a JSON format so this has been improved.
Added an edit option for comments and arguments Once an argument or comment was posted it had to be removed and reposted if the user wanted to make changes. Now you can conveniently edit your own posts and even change the type (pro, con, comment) if more applicable.
Planned changes
long term plans
A system of points (using Smart Media Tokens (SMT)) for rewarding authors and popular discussions/arguments. A system like this can give interesting incentives for users to start controversial discussions and formulate their opinions thoughtfully.
A leader board/ranking system to provide additional incentives for engaging with thoughtful comments and debate. Having a leader board were users can view there position according to others might provide an additional motivation to be engaged in debates.
Display statistics about a discussion (distribution of age, gender, location... on the different sides of the topic). In the long term this might prove interesting to see how other variables correlate with certain points of view. Of course this would imply that users give up certain personal information. If wanted, this can also be encouraged by offering points in a point system. Whether this conflicts with the original idea that anyone can be anonymous on the blockchain can be debated.
Displaying the structure of the discussion you are currently viewing. Interactively showing where you are in the vast tree structure of debates. As discussions get complex and with a lot of sub discussions it is important that a user can navigate in and between topics. Discussions will develop a tree structure with arguments and sub arguments and climbing this tree should be made clear and convenient.
short term plans
- An 'about' page that introduces new users to the workings and goals of debato. This is a must have for any site where anyone can find the mission statement of the site and basic instructions on how to use it.
- A value indicator to show how much your vote is worth when sliding the Voting Power slider. I think this is very useful to adjust the voting power you vote with on debato.
- Storing draft discussions. Storing drafts on your browser can be useful when working on an elaborate discussion context. The user then does not need to finish the discussion directly and can revisit it later
- An upload function for the discussion thumbnail. Currently you have to enter a image URL to be used as thumbnail. Making it possible to upload an image directly from your computer can be a useful tool for people who want to use images they own already.
- Showing when an argument or discussion is edited. With the new feature of editing arguments and discussions it is also important to be able to see when a post was edited. Viewing the edit history can be interesting to understand comments on it that seem out of place.
How can you contribute?
As a developer, this is my first major project. So I don't mind feedback on issues such as inefficient/improper syntax or spelling mistakes.
suggesting features that are of great value to the project and not already mentioned in the planned changes, here or on GitHub.
Existing steemJS functions do not allow for complex queries. you can, for example, get the posts of a certain user, but then you can't specify a tag. This is currently resolved by loading the maximum amount of posts (100) and filtering those further. But this is not the best way when scaling up the project. Another option is to use steemSQL but this is only viable when the project has grown to a certain extend where it can support a 20 SBD per month subscription fee. Until then, other alternatives for more advanced querying of posts are more then welcome.
If you can think of anything else, feel free!
previous updates
written by @samve
Excellent work! It's good to see these collections of nice improvements on the project. You must have put in a ton of work to achieve all these. Well done!
The update is essential — especially the implementation of the wallet feature. Users won't have to visit alternative sites to perform any wallet related activities.
Thanks for the information. I can see that there are many more features to expect from the project.
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Thank you for the review! It is much appreciated.
Thank you for your review, @tykee! Keep up the good work!
Very interesting project, I'm sure you put a lot of work into it. For that I take off my hat.
I like to expand your concept, because I've always had difficulties debating topics that are meaningful in the pros and cons categories and then leaving it at that. It starts to get exciting when both areas have collected enough material. In life, one often wonders how one can ever reach a good decision for oneself with the voices and arguments "for" and "against".
The question is therefore: What do you do with all the information once you have it as "pro" and "con"?
A topic could be divided into several subcategories after the end of a debate, which, on the basis of further group (or single) work, compile a catalogue of questions, which is then unanimously approved and then publicly and systemically agreed upon by interested participants.
For question collection, however, the result of the pros and cons would be great, but I would then continue it and from the identified statements again ring in a new round and create said catalog of questions, on the basis of which the lowest resistance to each individual question on a subject is measured (scaling question, for example, scale from 1-10).
This is a much faster method than the classical consensus, because the classical consensus takes an infinite amount of time to reach an agreement that everyone is satisfied. Systemic consensus is a formalized version of it and can be extended by a zero-sum game.
If you are interested, please contact me. I would be happy, because my article about it has not received much resonance, although the concept is really coherent and above all very clever. Scroll further down where it gets to the concept and numbers.
Greetings from Hamburg
I really appreciate your feedback! I will definitely check out your post later to fully understand what you are saying and get back to you.
Thank you for doing so. Now, do you think that debato could be extended in this way?
I think it is a very useful idea to incorporate. I'm only trying to think about places where it could fit practically. Debato is mainly created with the idea of being a place to exchange arguments and respond to other points of view rather than a place to reach a final concensus. It also does not try to force a user into a category pro or con because he/she can place thoughts, opinions, reasonings in any of the categories with the goal of discussing it further. Having this system of voting would also imply that the sharing of these thoughts has to be finished after a certain time which might limit the distribution of ideas. You have also experienced yourself that you really need a significant user base to make this concept have practical value. User involvement is also something highly variable as we have seen the last year which, as I believe, might lead to a die out of the function.
But I can't stop thinking about the idea. Perhaps there are possible future expansions where people could post statements that can be voted on in several filtering rounds.
What do you think about it? Do you have any idea or opinion about this? Would love to hear it!
Posted using Partiko Android
I would love to see a round where this method is used. I like your idea that a debate can be endlessly continued and supplemented, as well. But maybe such an experiment can be integrated if you have already collected many pros and cons on a certain topic at debato? We could work together here or maybe invite someone else? The biggest difficulty is indeed to find enough participants. I also think it's a good idea to do several filter rounds. What about debato, is it already running?
Let's stay in touch and see how debato develops.
I'll definitely stay in touch, I think it could have a place on debato and I would love your cooperation when the time is right! But first I'll focus on the main concepts of argument sharing and interactions. I think this should be optimised to start attracting users.
Currently debato is up and running. All functionalities are in place and it is through actual use and interactions that I am figuring out what functions are needed and what can be improved. In the last few weeks for example I also noticed there should be a better framework for discussing in the comment section because not every thought can be fitted in an argument.
Currently I'm slowly trying to expand the user base while making sure that everything works as it should and the platform is pleasant to use.
Posted using Partiko Android
Congratulations on the growing success of debato! I am resteeming...
Thanks for sharing, I really believe it is getting somewhere! :D
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