I had a marvelous idea for a website that combines fairly traditional elements from web applications like bulletin boards with elements from Web2.0 sites. I mulled it over for a while, and explained it to a few people—who seemed to like the idea.

The idea is for what I call recreational debating, i.e arguing for the hell of it. A debate consists of a topic of discussion that has two clearly opposing sides, represented by two columns were users can post their arguments. Users can comment on these arguments and also rate them on a scale between -2 and +2, a scheme that Pythonistas will be familiar with. Arguments are ranked according to votes given, so the best argument for each side will naturally rise to the top.

That was over a year ago, I have been hacking away at it since then. I haven't had a great deal of time of to do it, having also written a book in that period, but I managed to deploy it last weekend. I call it BeContrary.com, because users are encouraged to post on both sides of the argument, regardless of what they believe in.

I plan on posting on my experiences creating the site (it was built with Turbogears), but for now I would really appreciate some feedback on the site itself. It has been up for a week, and I have discovered no obvious flaws (which makes me nervous)!