tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83124372394453653502011-12-01T23:08:19.996-05:00What's new at BadArguments.orgMichael Poulshockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06242835221555323016noreply@blogger.comBlogger71100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8312437239445365350.post-26875211757715494482010-02-17T18:44:00.007-05:002010-02-17T19:38:31.661-05:00

I just read a compelling article by Tim van Gelder, Melanie Bissett, and Geoff Cumming, entitled Cultivating Expertise in Informal Reasoning.It argues that expertise in informal reasoning (argument analysis) can be developed through deliberate practice. Stated this way, it may sound obvious. However, it seems to me that there's a general conception that a person's ability to analyze arguments

Michael Poulshockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06242835221555323016noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8312437239445365350.post-70361528129678624812010-01-01T22:56:00.005-05:002010-01-01T23:23:12.729-05:00

I made a few new tweaks to the site today. First, I made it so that anyone can submit comments, regardless of whether or not they're logged in. We'll see how that works out...I also made it much simpler for people to submit bad arguments that they've come across. Instead of having to prepare a complete multiple choice question, answer, and explanation, now they just need to submit the argument

Michael Poulshockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06242835221555323016noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8312437239445365350.post-86964209017988567852009-12-30T23:02:00.023-05:002010-01-01T21:12:04.128-05:00

By popular request (actually at the request of a user named Trout), I added a commentary feature that lets users share their thoughts about each argument and multiple choice question.I believe that there are objective standards by which arguments can be analyzed and judged, and I try to create questions that explore these principles in a crisp and fair manner. However, there's obviously a

Michael Poulshockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06242835221555323016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8312437239445365350.post-36851732022786401882009-12-28T20:19:00.003-05:002009-12-28T20:33:00.323-05:00

I haven't made any structural changes to the site in a few months. Today I was feeling ambitious.Most noticeably, I tweaked the CSS style sheet to give the site a more elegant appearance. I also rigged up the quiz so that the original question now appears on the page that gives you your results. This will make it easier to digest answers and learn from mistakes.Behind the scenes, I changed the

Michael Poulshockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06242835221555323016noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8312437239445365350.post-35116387961145025522009-05-06T19:02:00.005-04:002009-05-06T19:58:54.300-04:00

The user score at Bad Arguments is based on two things: the number of questions you answer correctly and the difficulty of those questions.Here's (roughly) how it's calculated: Each question has a number reflecting the frequency that it's answered correctly, which we'll call the success percentage. For each question you get right, subtract the success percentage from 1. The result will be your

Michael Poulshockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06242835221555323016noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8312437239445365350.post-51370376792916344492009-05-06T08:32:00.001-04:002009-05-06T19:02:53.377-04:00

To be perfectly frank, one of my goals is to get users of Bad Arguments addicted to the site. To accomplish this, the site needs to appeal to users with a wide range of experience in evaluating arguments. It should have easy questions for beginners, challenging ones for advanced users, and everything in between. If the questions are too easy or too hard, users will be more likely to leave the

Michael Poulshockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06242835221555323016noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8312437239445365350.post-6544570955154978392009-04-30T21:54:00.000-04:002009-04-30T22:05:04.260-04:00

This is the official blog of www.badarguments.org.

Michael Poulshockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06242835221555323016noreply@blogger.com0