All analogies are imperfect. A conversation doesn't have to be exactly like a jousting match or like gladiatorial combat. But we like to think there's a difference between what's true, sensible, or wise, and what's false, fallacious, or foolish. And it would be nice if all debates were reliably judged so the results would be clear for the audience.

It's a pipe dream, of course, although perhaps AI might one day do the trick. That would be a great app, wouldn't it? You feed the app the link to an online debate, and the app studies the content and tells you who is full of bullshit.