A subset of Knol (Google’s version of Wikipedia), has finally emerged. Participants of The Google Debates can vote for and discuss various topics online now.

It is being pushed out as a site that think tanks are going to reference for our input:

“Leading think tanks debate key policy topics of this years election. They want to hear from you so please voice your opinion through comments and suggested edits.”

So are think tanks really gonna check Google Debates before publishing their views? I doubt it… However, one interesting outcome of this would be if our political candidates and officials paid attention to it, or at least had a member of their inner-circle cruise it every once in a while. Now that would be a democracy!

Anyway, I opened IE to check, and so far, the unbiased site has no ads on it, with Google’s Knol disclaimer in place here as well:

The views expressed by participants in the Knol Debates are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of Google or its employees.

Participants can ‘flag inappropriate content’ (login required!), but it’ll still be interesting to see whether an unmonitored site can stay above the fray or not. Only time will tell of course, but I’m not holding my breath. I mean, with millions of forums on the internet that have gone down the tubes, why would Google Debates be any different? Good luck though!