I know this has been discussed before, but as with so many other topics, let’s have another round. I really don’t see this as a debate, but I’d like to see it kept civil, so IMHO it goes.
There are several ongoing threads (link, link and link) where the SDMB community is fighting the good fight against ignorance. These certainly are not the only occassions, but just three current train wrecks that I don’t want to read but I can’t look away from. I walked away from one thread when I realized it was a lost cause. I do the same thing in person to such people.
One reason I can think of is that we want to fight ignorance of posters who do not necessarily believe as the fringe element do. There is much knowledge in those links, and one can certainly learn. One can also learn in reasoned and reasonable debates about both sides of an issue. I feel that by actively engaging these antagonists, we give validity to their claims. We (the SDMB community) can share that knowledge elsewhere without the name calling and bad feelings generated in the train wrecks and misinformation/misrepresentation of information in the linked threads. While they might not be the internet textbook definition of trolls, they are close enough for me to heed the statement: DNFTT.
Do you FTT? If so, why?