Ah my first proper blog in a while. Though no one's commented on my Doctor Octopus/Alpha speculation blog. For shame.

Admittedly battle forums on any site can be a downright nasty place to be. But recently, our battle forums have gotten quite ugly. In part, they’ve become a festering ground for annoying trolls, ignorant and angry fanboys as well as spite threads and really stupid battles. I can’t believe how many times Hancock, a T-800 from Terminator or Godzilla have been pitted up against comic book characters who would wipe the floor with them yet there are users who come up with absurd arguments as to why they win. Whether they truly believe that or are trying to be flame baiters, I have no idea.

Also, the state of the battle forums have driven a fair few users away. CitizenBane, one of the Vine’s top debaters left partly because of the amount of trolls and fanboys loitering in the battle forums. Another good debater, Dane left a while back as well and Silver6427 only comes on the Vine in intermittent periods. And whilst the state of the battle forums doesn’t drive everyone off this great comic book website, it keeps them out of the battles section.Good battles are fleeting in comparison to the number of spite battles. And I’m beginning to see all too often opinions like “BATMAN CAN BEAT ANYONE WITH PREP!” or “HULK’S WAY STRONGER THAN SUPERMAN SO HE CAN BEAT HIM UP!” There are more but fortunately not everyone’s like this. And recently I’ve noticed something that appears to be creating much better battles on the battle forums.

I believe that it’s called “Challenge a Viner” but correct me if I’m wrong. Basically, two users challenge each other to a debate. It’s a closed, one on one debate between these two users where two characters or a team or whatever the battle’s about is debated. It’s in these one on one challenges that the real crème de la crème of the Vine’s debaters shine. Proper, logically coherent reasons are given as to why a character would win. Character feats are backed up by scans, issue references or videos that support the debater’s point. The replies are aimed at countering their opponents point and proving why their character has the better reasons and feats to win. And the debate continues until a clear cut winner is reached via who gave the better reasons and feats rather than who has the most fanboys. Furthermore, it’s not just the quality of the debates that give challenging a viner much more credibility. The two debaters are reasonable, considerate and polite towards one another. There’s no rude behaviour, insults or swearing that involves a moderator having to come in and break up the fuss or lock the thread to keep it from getting out of hand. Everything’s kept friendly and no feelings are hurt. An important factor in debates such as these.

In case you’re wondering what these debates are like, I’ve provided some examples of my personal favourite Challenge a Viner debates:

The debate that inspired me to write this blog: TheAcidSkull and Killemall’s brilliant debate over Thor vs Savage Hulk - http://www.comicvine.com/forums/battles/7/thor-killemall-vs-savage-hulk-theacidskull/696970/

A currently ongoing debate between TheAcidSkull and Sherlock regarding World War Hulk vs Wonder Woman - http://www.comicvine.com/forums/battles/7/world-war-hulk-theacidskull-vs-wonder-woman-sherlock/709359/?page=2

A short but sweet debate between Power NeXus and Dane - http://www.comicvine.com/forums/battles/7/challenge-a-viner-power-nexus-vs-dane/539170/

A 3 page debate between god_spawn and NickZ about who would win: Daken or Vamp - http://www.comicvine.com/forums/battles/7/challenge-a-viner-god_spawn-vs-nickz/702574/

An awesome Star Wars debate between the Vine’s top two Star Wars experts: JediXMan and Silver2467 - http://www.comicvine.com/forums/battles/7/darth-bane-zannah-jedixman-vs-darth-maul-tyranus-silver/663464/

Another Silver debate I really liked. This time involving another class debater, Strafe Power and the battle in question being Wonder Woman vs Geo-Force - http://www.comicvine.com/forums/battles/7/silverwonder-woman-vs-strafegeo-force/578076/

A fair, friendly and well debated match between god_spawn and BringnIt regarding Gambit vs Kraven - http://www.comicvine.com/forums/battles/7/gambit-god_spawn-vs-kraven-bringnit-challenge-a-viner/690249/

Of course there are many more and I’d encourage more debates like this. Obviously, I’m not saying that every battle should be Challenge a Viner style. We need the classic, open debates for everyone. And of course trolls and fanboys will be ever present on the battle forums. But after reading CitizenBane’s blog, I remarked that the battle forums needed improving and that they had the potential to be great again. The way I see it, Challenging a Viner is a step in the right direction. Those kinds of threads can remind us of how debates should be done and how the battle forums could be once again.