Introduction to the Rules of Discourse
[IRD] Version 0.2 - formalized 2018-02-02
1. An Invitation to Rational Discourse
2. Documents of the Rules of Discourse Any Group Needs
2.1. This Introductory Document
2.2. General Rules of Discourse
2.3. Platform-Specific Rules of Discourse
2.4. Discursive Compendium of Fallacies
3.2.1. Hyphenated Complex References
3.2.2. Comma-Separated Complex References
These documents, the Rules of Discourse are meant to provide a rule framework that discussion groups can use to promote reason and logic in its own discussions, as well as prepare its members to be more rational members of society in general, thus promoting logic and reason in the world as a whole.
So come all, young and old, and discuss whatever subjects are in your group's scope of discussion - and discuss it with logic and reason, which is the best path to finding the truth.
Of course, at times, all of you will fail in this goal. This is because nobody is perfect, so we all make mistakes. Furthermore, you are all at different stages of learning the ways of rational discourse and sound logical thought - arts which we may never master entirely, but which are worthwhile even if we just get closer and closer to it as an asymptotic goal.
For those who transgress these rules due to inevitable human imperfection and those who transgress from lack of experience, the goal of these rules is to guide and nourish them in their growth.
But for those who have no intent to abide by the rules, and may or may not even actively have designs on derailing the group - the goal of these rules is to prevent them from bringing the group down. The goal is to prevent them from derailing the group or diverting it from its mission - whether it be the mission specific to that group or the mission common to all groups that follow these Rules of Discourse.
This document (the one from which you are right now reading these very words) is the introductory document and the roadmap document to the Rules of Discourse. It is part of the Rules of Discourse for any group.
The General Rules of Discourse is the main document of rules that are not particular to a specific platform or medium in which a group is hosting - but are generic to all mediums on which a group can run.
These are specifics of applying the Rules of Discourse to a specific medium on which a group can be hosted. If the Rules of Discourse project has such a document available for the group’s medium, that document should be used. If the Rules of Discourse project does not have such a document available for the group’s medium, or if the project’s document for this medium is incomplete, it may be up to the local group to fill in the gap with in-house decisions.
Currently incomplete, this is the primary reference for resolving disputes regarding possible fallacies and/or fallacious rhetoric.
A simple reference to part of a document is to be formatted as follows: The document’s ID-code - followed by a hyphen - followed by the version number - followed by the character ‘s’ - followed by the section number-ID - followed by a section-type identifier (which is either a ‘p’, a ‘g’, or a ‘t’). If the section-type identifier is a ‘p’, that will be followed by a paragraph number - which is ‘1’ for the first paragraph in the section, ‘2’ for the second paragraph in the section, and so forth..
The version-number of the Current Draft version of a document, as far as this citation system is concerned is is ‘000’. However, as the Current Draft version of a document is liable to change between the time that a reference is made and the time that it is read, it is a good idea to accompany such a reference with enough information about what the referred-to section is about to allow the referred-to section to be identified without total reliance on the section number-ID.
If the section-type identifier is a ‘t’, it is referring to the entire section of the document under the header of that section-number.
If the section-type identifier is a ‘g’, it is referring to the introductory text of a section that appears prior to the beginning of any subsection.
If the section number-ID refers to a section that is without any subsections, then it should be referred to with a ‘t’ rather than a ‘g’.
If the section-type identifier is a ‘p’, it refers to a specific paragraph within the section’s text. If the section in question has subsections, such a reference should be used to refer to a paragraph in the introductory text prior to the start of the first subsection -- because a paragraph within a subsection should be referenced in terms of that subsection’s number-ID.
If a section has no subsections and only one paragraph of text -- then it should be referred to with a ‘t’ rather than a ‘p1’. Likewise, if a section has subsections, and one paragraph of introductory text, but only one paragraph of introductory text - then that introductory text should be referred to with a ‘g’ rather than a ‘p1’.
A complex reference is a reference to a stretch of a document that can not be referred to with a simple reference.
If a reference is followed by a hyphen, that hyphen should be followed with the end-part of a simple reference starting with either section-ID number of (if the reference before the hyphen is of type ‘p’) a paragraph number. The shortened simple reference following the hyphen is to be interpreted as being identical to that prior to the hyphen up to the point that the reference following the hyphen starts. The collective reference is to refer to the stretch of the document starting with the beginning of that referred to by the simple reference before the hyphen ending at the end of that referred to by the expanded form of the abbreviated simple reference after the hyphen.
A comma-separated complex reference is a reference to two stretches of a document, omitting whatever is between them. Any reference may be expaneed into a comma-separated complex reference by following it with a comma, followed in turn by either a simple reference or a hyphenated reference -- only in the case of the reference following the comma, the simple reference or the first part of the hyphenated reference will be abbreviated relative to the last simple reference or abbreviation thereof before the comma in the same manner that in hyphenated references, the second part ot the hyphenated reference is abbreviated relative to the first.