2. Opening an online debate

After you have created an Argunet account, you can apply for access to online debates and open them. You can either gain access to Argunet debates by using a known debate password or by applying for access to the debate. The Editor of the debate can then accept you as Author or Reader .

2.1. Opening a debate using a debate password

The following steps describe how to open an online debate using a known password.

  1. Start the "Open debate" wizard by clicking the Open a debate button in the toolbar. Select sokrates.philosophie.fu-berlin.de:5190/ArgunetServer on the first page of the wizard.
  2. Enter your login data (user name and password) and click Next to continue.

    Figure 5.3. Entering the login data

    Entering the login data

  3. On the second page of the wizard, a list of all debates accessible on the Argunet server appears. For each debate, the columns of this table show its title, your user role (i.e. user rights) in the debate and the creation date.

    Figure 5.4. List of all debates on an Argunet server

    List of all debates on an Argunet server

  4. The first time you open an online debate, you do not have reader or author rights for any debate, so your role is None . To open an online debate, you must first be granted the relevant reader or author rights. For the purposes of this tutorial, select the "Software patents" (Softwarepatente) debate.
  5. An input field appears below the list of online debates. A debate password can be entered here to gain access to the selected debate. In this case, enter "reader" and click Finish .
  6. The wizard confirms that you now have access to the debate and opens the Argunet debate.

2.2.  Applying for access to a debate without a debate password

Even if you do not have a debate password, you can apply for access to an online debate. This procedure is described in the following steps.

  1. Start the "Open debate" wizard by clicking the Open a Debate button in the toolbar. Select sokrates.philosophie.fu-berlin.de:5190/ArgunetServer on the first page of the wizard. Enter your login data (user name and password) and click Next to continue.
  2. Select a debate you want to open, but for which you have no reader or author rights (user role None ). Click Finish . The wizard informs you that the editor of the debate will be notified about your application for access to the debate. As soon as the editor has reviewed your application and confirmed it, you will be notified via e-mail.
  3. Start the "Open debate" wizard again, select the server sokrates.philosophie.fu-berlin.de:5190/ArgunetServer , and enter your login data. The entry in the My Role column indicates that you are applying for access to the debate (user role Applying ). As soon as the editor of the debate has granted you further rights, you can select the debate from the list and open it by clicking Finish .