I feel compelled to weigh in on the suggestion of “A few rules for good debating“as it seems to be a bit confusing in its premise.

The premise contends that the rules of debate is to establish truth and that it is not a matter of winning or losing. First a debate is contentious in nature and it is about establishing one’s point of view over another. It was suggested that one ‘concede” when a truth is recognized or the heart recognize the truth. Here is where I would like suggest that one enter as a discussion rather than a debate, one may say that this is semantics but there is a big difference in the approach based on the platform set.
Who will determine what “Truth” is in any given situation? Can we determine Truth in a discussion and who would be the purveyor of that truth?

The rules set forth by the TalkShop seems to be a good premise for the discussions to wit:
Rules Of this Talk Shop
1. Do not use this forum to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, obscene, vulgar, hateful, abusive, threatening, or an invasion of a person's privacy, or otherwise a violation of any laws.
2. Finally, the owners of this web site reserve the right to remove any messages posted, for legal reasons.

I believe that the important thing is to be guided by is the respect of each posters opinion regardless of whether we agree or disagree with that point of view, and as stated address the topic or subject matter and not the person. The object of a discussion is to explore an issue objectively which would enrich everyone as it will reveal different perspectives that may have evaded us therefore allowing us to individually form new or expanded understanding of the issue.
I believe that we stop growing at the point where we form an opinion.
Isn’t it fair to say (or should I say true) that if we come into a discussion believing that we have the Truth or the source of your discussion is Truth we are then assuming that everyone else is Wrong? Is that arrogance? Truth is the ACTUAL state or condition of a matter or conforming with fact or reality. Now in our life time we have seen that many so called facts have been debunked or expanded greatly and we know that one’s perceptions of what is reality seem to be awfully fragile as things change over time or is it that one’s perceptions of things change. What then is the difference of Actuality VS Reality? Ok this is a topic for another day.
I would hope that the discussion here would be a platform to open up and not restrict, and to grow and expand our awareness and tolerance.