Forums / Discussion / Serious Debate

So, I asked this question once before, and the thread got locked. So I guess that means it's obvious, right KYM? Well, I made a serious debate thread that by guidelines WAS, a serious debate thread, and it was moved to general and got a bunch of flak (link here). I'm going to ask again, and this time I'd like a serious debate on this: When is a debate, inside or outside this website, not serious?

I'm not a mod, so I can't give an official answer, but my best guess is when it seems clear that you don't actually care about what people have to say, but rather you are either trying to light a match on a flamewar and watch the world burn, you are fishing for compliments or similar opinions, you want to rant about something rather than debate it, or you are acting like a five-year-old who keeps asking others to pull your finger. Hypothetically, of course.

I mean, I personally believe a lot of topics can be discussed seriously, even if they seem to have an obvious answer, or too meta, or too childish, or too stupid at first glance. Like, asking why babies are so dumb could lead to a discussion on parenting and developmental psychology.