How to ask questions at a public debate

I watch quite a lot of public debates on the Internet and sometimes I attend them as an audience member too. At such debates there is usually a panel of distinguished guests. They have ten minutes or so each to speak on the given topic, then ten minutes to answer. Eventually the debate is opened up to the floor for questions. Questions. Did everybody get that?

Almost invariably at these events, soon after the roving mic reaches the first “questioner”, one has that sinking feeling. It is nearly always a rambling individual who takes a full minute or so to build up to their “point” then takes another five minutes minutes making it then sees fit to add an extended lecture about something totally irrelevant.

Sometimes they have no point at all to make, and simply need to be shut down by the moderator (if they are doing their job properly, which is not often enough). Almost always, the asking of the question is a painful, drawn-out process, full of ego, devoid of respect for the speakers (who have earned their places) and terminally, excruciatingly boring.

Not many things are boring to the reflective mind, so this is an achievement indeed. There is limited time for questions as such events, so these self-indulgent, uninvited lectures by ignoramuses are extremely selfish and unwelcome. You can feel the time running out as they speak, still not getting to their point. Other people even sometimes start booing and ask these questioners to shut up. They didn’t go there to hear them.

Please remember these simple rules in order not to be infuriating at public debates:

1. Be concise!!! Get to your point. A preamble giving context should not be more than 5 seconds long. Your question, following this, should ideally be only one moderate length sentence.
2. Have a point. Engage brain before raising hand. Think it through. Predict the likely answer. Don’t waste everybody’s time with something inane or off-topic.
3. Remember you are asking a question. This is NOT your platform to sound off with a long lecture to show people how knowledgeable you think you are on some given topic that may be loosely related to the discussion. People are not interested. Put that on your own site and they’ll go there if you’re that great. Show respect for the panel and ask a carefully considered question inviting them to teach you (or indeed to reveal that they have not considered an angle of the topic).

It is selfish and extremely annoying when ignorant members of an audience hog a microphone, failing to observe the simple rules above. Moderators should be strict and shut them down and move on, allowing more considerate and intelligent people to contribute instead. They’re usually there, they’re just not as pushy.