Ok, I was just wondering why do some people sit there and argue back and forth over a message board? Do they get any satisfaction out of it?
I can’t stand it. No one has ever said “Oh gee I geuss you were right”. I have seen topics which rage into 514 post and still both sides keep going at it. Am I missing some sort of “arguing” gene? Or do I simply have a low BST (BST=Bull Shit Tolerance)?
I’ve come to the conclusion that there must be some sort of evolutionary advantage to having, within each village, a group of lunatics and fanatics, who, no matter what the evidence or even the significance of an issue, are able to expend superhuman amounts of time and energy belaboring nitpicking points. I think of Great Debates as a sort of cautionary tale, and a gathering place for the damned, who have lost all sense of perspective.
For people who are fairly new here, just be glad that the Great Debates forum was created a short time after the board started, specifically to isolate them from General Questions, where they originally congregated.
Sometimes we do get people who have never heard or thought of the other side of an issue. Even though they may not indicate that they have changed their mind, they do indicate that they appreciate hearing the other side.
I speak only for myself, but I take it as a learning opportunity. I also take it as an opportunity to provide my own personal insight and experience, and in some cases knowledge (like about martial arts, self defense, guns, police, etc). I honestly try to keep my mind open, and I personally have increased my knowledge and wisdom.
If other people want to keep their minds closed, that’s okay by me. I don’t lose any sleep over it, and none of my hair will turn grey over it.
If other people want to take it as a means of developing ulcers … well, that is their business too.
There are a lot more reasonable people participating in Great Debates than I think you realize. You just have to pick and choose the threads you’ll participate in and ignore the flotsum.
I hate to do this. Really I do. But it’s pretty clear to me that I have to move this thread to… Oh, I can’t even say it. I’m just going to move it.
Joe, some people just enjoy having a soapbox to stand on and harangue the rest of us from, and they never really listen what anybody else is saying. We are happy to grant them this privilege; if we find them tedious, we just go to another thread.
“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!” - the White Queen
I geuss people like the sound of their own voice like Not The Mama said.
White Ho: LOL enough said
CK & Glitch: Some of these post range into the 100+ range no sane person reads that many post if they are just skimming through.
I should print this thread out, this is the first time I have ever had a padlock placed on a thread I made, Mama would be so proud.
In the immortal words of poster Ursa Major, “Great Debates is for people who like to argue.”
I like to read the debates (even though I’m not very good at debating, because for a good debate you need an arsenal of facts at your fingertips, and I don’t have a good memory) because I usually learn something, and often I learn to question some accepted truth I have read. And this is as good a place as General Questions for learning new facts, as I found out when our beloved moderator Gaudere just taught me something about the potential health benefits of nicotine (which now that I think back was probably in one of Cecil’s columns, see what I mean when I said I don’t have a good memory?)
Also my post proves Notthemama’s point, that people enjoy listening to themselves talk.
I just get bored at work.
I, for one, learned more about the other side, even if I did decide to be more pigheaded than I already was.
That being said, its also a forum where you can play devil’s advocate 'til all your own questions and doubts have, at least, some answers.
Great Debates did wonders for me in my:
(1) understanding of the US Constitution, particularly why I’ll be carrying a firearm next time I visit,
(2) process of critical thinking,
(3) ability to proofread, if for nothing else than spel-checking, 
(4) understanding of UBB and HTML coding w/in message boards elsewhere,
(5) ability to express an argument, and recognize (in advance) potential errors in my argument, such as use of an identified fallacy. Just knowing Singledad’s gonna land on you hard for some fallacy or another, describably only in an obscure tongue like Latin (That, dear boy, is an ex officio consideration…?) taught me more than a whole lot of university grammar and critical thinking history courses. SingleDad scares me more than my profs ever did.
So. Am I alone here or what?
Regards,
Jai Pey
I don’t see what your problem is, Joe. I like to debate and to express my opinion. So do other people here. If you don’t like it you don’t have to participate. I don’t seriously think I’ll change anybody’s views, but I may sharpen my own, and I may even learn something from somebody else.
Everybody has some peculiar pleasures. Some people risk their lives jumping off cliffs. some people pay to get whipped. Some people enjoy Kenny G and Micheal Bolton. I don’t understand these things but I don’t judge them either. ( Well, maybe I do judge the Kenny G and Mike Bolton fans 
) So why are you so surprised that some nerdy intellectuals like myself enjoy stimulating shouting matches
Perked Ears indicate curiosity - Know Your Cat
Sometimes, I argue for the lurker–I figure that on any thread there are people with no preset opinion who are watching each side and forming new opinions–on many threads I am that lurker, and I appriciate the diehards restating their positions for me. Furthermore, I suspect that just because someone dosen’t cry uncle dosen’t mean they haven’t learned a thing or two. Saving face is important to people, myself included. If I make what I think is a strong arguemnt on a message board (or in any public discussion) and it gets ripped to shreads, I am sure not going to use it again in public, even if I am not ready to admit I am wrong right away. The seeds of doubt are planted by that sort of thing. I like to think I am better about admitting it now when I am wrong, but when I was in that delicate 15-18 age range that type of incident did a lot to shape my way of thinking–and none of the people involved ever knew it.
If reading 100+ posts makes you crazy, a lot of us here must be certifiable. It is commen enough that the people who haven’t really read are usually obvious, and not in the majority (at least in GD; MPTIMS is a different story sometimes). Although it is nothing to brag about, I must adnmit that I take a certain pride in having read the first 800 pages of the “Earth is Flat” thread, word by freaking word, but that was all I could take. (Does anyone know if anyone besides He Who Must Not Be Named was posting those last four pages?). A hundred posts is really not that much reading, unless a few of our more loqucious Debaters are involved. And they usually make it worth the time.
Personally, I enjoy engaging in verbal sparring to not only define views but also to question my own opinion. After all nothing is absolute and the mere thought of me holding onto a thought as fact merely because I always have makes me cringe.
Here I get to float ideas (some strong, others whimsical) and have intelligent people comment and/or disagree.
Of course other times I just enjoy mucking around…
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
<WARNING—this post contains foul language>
100 posts? 514 posts?
Sheesh, you wanna talk about someone who loves the sound of his own voice, do a search on a user named “Phaedrus” sometime.
<d&r>
-andros-
Seriously, though, I’m not nearly as interested in what people think (hell, they’ll usually tell me loudly enough). I’m much more interested in why they think as they do. GD is a great forum for that kind of exploration.
-a-
I have to agree with the original poster. It is one thing to debate, calmly, rationally, with respect for the other person’s opinion, but I’ve seen an awful lot of name calling in here. If not outright name calling then a general tone of disrespect for others. It’s one thing to have an opinion and stick with it, it’s quite another to be simply obnoxious.
Needs2know
Joe, the answer to your question is simple.
No one wants to see responses like:
“Oh yeah, I see your point.”
“I concede.”
“You were right, I was wrong.”
They are a waste of a post. Totally not necessary. These kinds of posts to not generate discussion. Arguments do.
Hell, I think Great Debates would be worth hanging around in for no other reason than to see Dr.Fidelius in action.
The reason I like GD so much is that it places a premium on critical thinking. Not only can you gain knowledge, if you pay attention you’ll learn how to properly employ it. Who needs resolution? It’s the process of learning that floats my personal boat.
And as for why everyone hasn’t just thrown up their hands and logged off, you may blame that on the siren song of the Fight Against Ignorance. Why fight ignorance at all? 'Cause in some small way, inch by inch, it makes world a better place. I don’t think I’m the only one here who believes that, but I’m probably the only one dorky enough to come out and say it.
“Are you frightened of snakes?”
“Only when they dress like werewolves.”
-Preacher
I don’t know who I stole this from but…
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
I Like this board because
~Bored2001
“Andros” said:
Sure. Like we should believe you, Clark. Er, Gaudere.