Civil Debate Achieves More Than Relentless Trolling!

[1SGRet]

I am a newbie of the worst kind. I have been known even to cede a point now and then. Anybody can out debate me.

Was a guy on another forum. He never started a thread. He just trolled and flamed with great alacrity. Eventually, of course, he was booted out. In the army, we called this 'sharpshooting'.

People who bug me are those whose only purpose is to pick out some niggling detail like a misspelling, or the lack of salience in just one point - out of say, 10 - and holds it firmly against him, or ignores a larger point for an insignificant one.

Then there those blokes and blokettes who don't have a foggy what the post is about - mine or someone else's - but feel obliged to make an inappropriate or inane comment.

Of course, I am perfect. But, I am not a master debator...

 

[Schweddy]

I hear yah. It depends on what you want to gain out of the debate. To me, everyone is a winner if they had the chance to express themselves - regardless if it is popular opinion in the thread or not.

You missed the folks that are excellent at discussion and are able to bring new thoughts that haven't been shared before - those posts make one think long and hard about one's beliefs and the status quo.

We have become very diverse and it is encouraging (at least to me) to see in a thread 4 different opinions on the same issue and quite often find all positions mature and concise.