Allow users to create accounts using email, social media, or third-party services.
Provide secure login and authentication mechanisms, with options for multi-factor authentication (MFA).
Support role-based access control, with different roles such as participants, moderators, and administrators.
Profile Management:
Allow users to create and manage profiles, including personal information, debate history, and preferences.
Enable users to follow other users, view their debate activities, and manage their follower lists.
Debate Creation and Management:
Allow users to create debates by selecting a topic, defining the format (e.g., one-on-one, team), and setting rules (e.g., time limits, number of rounds).
Enable users to invite others to participate in or moderate the debate.
Provide tools for scheduling debates and sending reminders to participants.
Debate Participation:
Allow users to join ongoing debates as participants or spectators.
Provide tools for participants to present their arguments, submit rebuttals, and summarize their positions.
Implement timers and structured turns to ensure fair participation.
Voting and Polling:
Enable users to vote on debate outcomes based on criteria such as argument strength, persuasiveness, and clarity.
Allow spectators to participate in live polling during debates.
Provide options for anonymous or public voting, depending on the debate’s rules.
Commenting and Discussion:
Allow users to comment on debates, ask questions, and engage in discussions with other participants and spectators.
Support threaded discussions to maintain context in conversations.
Provide moderation tools to manage inappropriate comments or behavior.
Debate Topics and Categories:
Organize debates into categories and topics to facilitate easy discovery and participation.
Allow users to suggest new topics and vote on which topics should be debated next.
Provide search functionality to find debates by keywords, categories, or participants.
Content Moderation:
Implement content moderation tools to flag, review, and remove inappropriate or offensive content.
Allow moderators to manage user behavior, including muting, banning, or warning users who violate platform rules.
Provide automated tools to detect and manage spam, trolling, or hate speech.
Scoring and Leaderboards:
Implement a scoring system to evaluate participants based on their performance in debates, including votes, argument quality, and engagement.
Maintain leaderboards to showcase top debaters, most popular topics, and most active users.
Allow users to earn badges or achievements for participation, winning debates, or community contributions.
Recording and Archiving:
Record debates for later viewing, with options for participants to review their performance.
Archive completed debates, making them accessible for future reference or educational purposes.
Allow users to share recordings or highlights of debates on social media or other platforms.
Notifications and Alerts:
Send automated notifications to users for debate invitations, upcoming debates, voting reminders, and new comments.
Allow users to configure notification preferences, including email, SMS, and in-app alerts.
Integration with Social Media:
Enable users to share debate topics, outcomes, and highlights on social media platforms.
Allow users to log in using social media accounts and link their profiles for easy sharing and engagement.
Provide tools for embedding debates on external websites or blogs.
Analytics and Reporting:
Provide participants and moderators with detailed analytics on debate performance, including votes, engagement, and feedback.
Generate reports on platform usage, popular topics, and user activity.
Enable export of reports for further analysis or sharing with stakeholders.
Language Support and Translation:
Support multiple languages to cater to a global user base.
Provide translation tools for debates conducted in different languages, allowing users to participate across linguistic barriers.
Mobile Compatibility:
Ensure the platform is fully functional on mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets.
Provide a mobile app or a responsive web design to allow users to participate in debates on the go.
Non-Functional Requirements
Scalability:
The platform should be able to handle a growing number of users, debates, and real-time interactions without performance degradation.
Support for scaling to accommodate additional features, languages, and international users as the platform grows.
Security:
Implement strong encryption for data transmission and storage to protect user data and debate content.
Ensure secure authentication mechanisms, including multi-factor authentication (MFA), to protect user accounts.
Regularly update security protocols and conduct security audits to prevent data breaches.
Performance:
Ensure that the platform provides real-time or near real-time interactions, especially during live debates and voting.
Optimize search, voting, and content loading times for a smooth user experience, even during peak usage.
Reliability and Availability:
Ensure high availability of the platform with minimal downtime, supported by redundancy and failover mechanisms.
Implement regular backups and disaster recovery procedures to prevent data loss and ensure continuity of service.
Usability:
The user interface should be intuitive, user-friendly, and accessible to users with varying levels of technical expertise.
Provide consistent user experience across different devices and platforms, including desktops, tablets, and smartphones.
Interoperability:
The platform should be compatible with third-party tools, such as video conferencing software, social media platforms, and analytics tools.
Support seamless data exchange with external systems using standard APIs and data formats.
Maintainability:
The platform should be easy to maintain, with clear documentation, a modular design, and support for regular updates and bug fixes.
Implement automated monitoring and logging to quickly identify and resolve issues.
Compliance:
Ensure the platform complies with relevant regulations and standards, such as data protection laws (e.g., GDPR) and content moderation guidelines.
Provide features to support auditing, data retention, and regulatory reporting requirements.
Data Integrity and Accuracy:
Ensure that all data collected and processed by the system is accurate and consistent.
Implement validation checks and data integrity mechanisms to prevent errors or data corruption.
Localization and Internationalization:
Support multiple languages and regional settings to cater to a global user base.
Allow easy adaptation of the platform to meet local regulations and practices in different countries.
Accessibility:
Ensure that the platform is accessible to users with disabilities, following web accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG).
Provide features such as screen reader compatibility, keyboard navigation, and adjustable text sizes.
Privacy and Data Ownership:
Ensure that users retain ownership of their data and can easily control, access, and delete their information as needed.
Provide transparency regarding data usage, sharing, and storage practices, with clear consent mechanisms.
