Threads: The Downfall of Debate?

Debate of the Week / Announcement

Hello, young writers!

Welcome to

The YA Section

! I’m Jack and today I have a special post that is both a Debate of the Week and an announcement. Let’s dive in.

Photo by Firmbee.com on Unsplash

The Problem with Debates on The YA Section

So, recently, the YA Section team and I have had a predicament regarding our signature Debate of the Week posts. You see, this blog came from a Blogger blog titled Controversial Book Club, which was created solely for posts called “Daily Controversies.” Over the span of four months, the blog evolved into a place with devotionals, informative articles, short story contests, and a book club. However, the Blogger platform sucks…so we moved over to Substack and rebranded as The YA Section, as stated in this post:

But anyway, the point is, these debate posts were what started the blog that evolved into this one so my fellow authors have a hard time giving it up. However, the fact that these posts produce little traffic as our subscribers often agree with us on the argument viewpoints means it’s probably time to move on.

As suscriber

Merissa Nicole

, stated in The YA Section chat:

“I think the debates are great and everything (very well thought out and factual) but my first impression on the YA is… [a] community for teens to be real and find common interests that can help build each other up in the areas you all desire. I’m sure having debates can do that too but honestly the majority of Substack newsletters are already debatable topics[…].

I truly believe the more creative you guys go, the more people you will draw in. I’ve always been told that if a place or person is lacking in something, be the one to fill it. Substack is filled with intellectual individuals who focus on the facts more, which automatically makes creativity and unity unique characteristics that not everyone has on here. Debates are already across the board on Substack, but short stories, book reviews, devotionals (for teens & young adults), etc. those are all things we need more of and you all can give.”

So, Merissa is saying that The YA Section can be a strong community of teen writers without our classic debates. And frankly, I agree with her. Often, my debate posts feel more like informative articles that don’t really fit in with the blog’s niche of literature and writing. But I’ve avoided removing them because I just have trouble giving up what used to be the centerpiece of this whole blog.

I did post about this on the subscribers chat which got mainly responses like “either keep them or remove them” which (sorry, y’all) weren’t very helpful, leaving the decision solely up to me, Ken, and Abby. And that’s where the discussion threads come in. But first! I just mentioned our subscribers chat multiple times. If you want to join The YA Section Chat where we’ll discuss updates, new types of posts, and subscriber goals, click the button below! :)

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Are Threads the New Debates?

So, now it’s time to discuss the threads. I haven’t posted many threads yet, but I do like the concept. Here’s the idea: threads are little weekly discussion topics where teen writers can talk about books, writing, and all that fun stuff only just for fun. Maybe some debate, but debate won’t be a centralized theme; threads are all about friendly conversations. At first, I simply saw this as a fun idea. However, as I was typing up a discussion thread earlier today, the idea struck me that these could be replacements for our debate posts.

Hear me out, the whole point of our debates was for writers to share their opinions and connect with other young writers, right? Well, these threads can do that exact thing only better than the debate posts. Think about it: debates can cause stress and often aren’t really good conversation starters. But threads can help y’all feel more comfortable talking about fun topics and casually getting to know one another.

Take for example our first chat thread, titled Breaking the Ice. It was supposed to be a little starter to let y’all know what threads would be like and it got 39 comments. Now that may not seem like a lot, but compared to our average Debate of the Week it sure is! So already you can see that these threads have more potential than our debates.

What’s the verdict?

So, now it’s time for you all (yes, you!) to decide what we should do with our debates. After all, The YA Section isn’t just a blog, it’s a community. And y’all are part of it so it makes sense for you guys to help us decide these things.

Firstly, here’s a poll so we can see the popular opinion:

Secondly, let us know in the comments or in the subscribers chat which option you think is best and why. Your feedback is super important for The YA Section’s functionality because I am very indecisive. So even if you just vote in the poll, I appreciate you.

Thank you for joining me here. If you want to be a part of The Young Author Section community, don’t hesitate to subscribe and tag along for future posts. Love y’all. See you in my next post!

Have a blessed day! :)