Great writeup. I've noticed the same thing by recording simultaneously with the watch workout app and strava on my iphone. The watch always says pace is slower.
1) Artificial scarcity - like Wordle or a NYTimes cover photo, there's only one per day. This focuses attention to one topic at a time.
2) Before/after polling. The audience is polled initially and then asked if they've changed their mind after a while reading arguments. The winner is the debate that changes the most minds.
Big fan of Intelligence Squared but haven't seen ChangeMyView before, thanks for sharing.
Regarding the polling suggestion, that's actually how it works! Clearly need to work on the messaging a bit, to make that more apparent. There's an initial poll and then you're asked if you've changed your mind after a minute of reading the arguments.
Good question! Archived debates are considered complete so you can't vote or comment...but you can always re-suggest the topic if you feel there's more to talk about.
Great questions! All consumer apps have a hard time getting traction. We're taking an iterative approach here.
The strategic advantage here is focus. Just like there's only one Wordle, or the front cover of NYTimes, per day, we're creating artificial scarcity by focusing peoples attention on just one debate at the day.
I would consider this a success if people start asking themselves, "hey, have you heard the debate of the day?"
In terms of how big this could get, keeping an open mind and seeing how folks use the site.