@Haoshoku you once asked who would be my top top tier posters, and
@Nidai_Kitetsu you stated that Bogard is the best powerscaler on the forum.
In my convo with Light, I discussed the two posters that I think stand out the most out of everyone else on the forum:
@Sentinel and
@silverfire. I don't know if I should consider them top top tier, but they are the clear best of the arena regulars.
Why I Think so Highly of Them
In my experience, my disagreements with them have been extremely productive (my latest disagreement with silverfire was on Crocodile, and we ended up concluding on the same position. He went from stating MF Luffy was stronger to agreeing with me on Crocodile's low high tier rating). Prior to that, he was the best anti Crocodile advocate and made the strongest arguments against him. The Crocodile case is so compelling because of how strongly silverfire advocated against Crocodile at the start of the debate. This was a case of genuine disagreement and on an issue he felt pretty strongly about (he was quite passionate in the debates).
That willingness — in Sentinel's case eagerness — to change your mind is what makes debates truly valuable. They also come across as genuine in basically all debates I've seen of them.
Sentinel has outright stated that he's willing to:
- Place Dressrosa Zoro above Dressrosa Luffy.
- If Zoro solos King without a power up.
- Place Doflamingo above YC 2s.
- If Sanji solos Queen without a power up.
These are two positions that he vehemently opposed in the past. He is willing to abandon them if he sees the right evidence. I can't really ask for more of anyone. Sentinel has also revised upwards his estimate on Doffy (we now have basically the same position on him), and he was one of the best anti Doffy advocates before.
The willingness to change their mind is why I consider them clearly better than e.g. Bogard. I haven't seen Bogard update away from any position he has strongly defended in the past. In no strong disagreement I've had with Bogard (or seen Bogard have with anyone) has he updated away from the position he started with. I've also occasionally seen him make bad arguments in support of his favoured positions. Yes Bogard has pretty good takes, but he's very inflexible. He's extremely reluctant to change his mind on issues he has strong opinions about (I've yet to see him do this). Several posters have good takes, several posters can write persuasive arguments in support of their positions. Few of the above posters are so willing to change their minds on their pet issues and prioritise accuracy above all else.
Many people change their minds on some topics, I haven't really seen others adopt positions they were initially so vehemently opposed to (especially where there is room for reasonable disagreement).
This is why I think Sentinel and silverfire are so great as posters.
I recognise that in the examples I mentioned, they changed their minds to agree with me, and while this might hint at bias:
- I am pretty flexible on most topics and change my mind a lot.
- I probably change my mind too much.
- On priors it's highly unlikely that I would always be on the wrong side of the debate, so I should expect to sometimes see someone update towards my position.
I realise I'm gushing about them, and it's probably lame, but I needed to express just how much I appreciate their presence here.
@Sentinel,
@silverfire:
