Isn't it ironic...

[Case]

...that before Poes became Poes, they were known as "Devil's Advocates"?

 

[Duvelthehobbit666]

I would say you are wrong. A Poe does what he does for his own (and others) entertainment where the purpose is to fool people believing that the person is serious. This would be an atheist pretending to be a hardcore christian. A devil's advocate automatically takes the other side in a discussion to either annoy someone or to see what sort of argumentations they have for their belief. This might be a teacher or someone else asking questions on why evolution is true.

 

[)O( Hytegia )O(]

I would say you are wrong. A Poe does what he does for his own (and others) entertainment where the purpose is to fool people believing that the person is serious. This would be an atheist pretending to be a hardcore christian. A devil's advocate automatically takes the other side in a discussion to either annoy someone or to see what sort of argumentations they have for their belief. This might be a teacher or someone else asking questions on why evolution is true.

Also, Devil's Advocates take an unpopular side to show problems in reasoning for other, more devious sets of ideals.

For example - I do not advocate the Nazi regime. However, I would happily play Devil's Advocate for the Nazi's if I were to show some greater, woser hole in something that someone takes seriously.
The other night, I was discussing Consent in medical procedures with a user named pointmanzero. His advocation was that if the medical procedure was available, you should be forced to take it or not be offered medical care afterwards. I told him that was Nazi-like thinking.
He said "The difference is that Nazis killed 6.5 Million people. I would be making the world a better place."
I said, "The Nazi regime thought that killing 6.5 million people would make the world a better place."

Devil's Advocate also works in the fact that if an argument can be presented in reverse, then the entire argument is null.