Debate : 11205


Off-Topic / Debate / 11205	11204 \| 11206

Subject:	Re: When is it appropriate to "take it to email" and when isn't it?
Newsgroups:	lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date:	Fri, 22 Jun 2001 06:18:03 GMT
Viewed:	229 times

In lugnet.off-topic.debate, David Eaton writes: > > Here is the question to those that seem to advocate "taking it to email" > > whenever one or more parties to a discussion seem to go out of the bounds of > > normal discourse: > > > But going to this specific situation (when two parties are continuously > arguing back and forth and seemingly getting nowhere for an extended period > of time), while I don't necessarily feel that it's something that "should" > be taken offline, I would personally recommend just dropping it altogether. > But that's me. If I try and drive a point home continuously with no > progress, the wonderful scientific method tells me that I've got to either > change my method drastically or stop completely. And personally, 9 times out > of 10 when I've seen people be told "please take this off-line", I've > thought to myself instead "just give it up". A large part of it seems to be the public performance -- if the only people who can see it are you and the person you're insulting, what's the point? But if you're caught in a cockfight it can be hard to back down without looking weaker, even if both players look pretty foolish. I suppose this is interesting as a phenomenon, but I think good public discussion involving information, ideas and community is more productive and more interesting. If I want to watch social behaviour in humans I'll turn on "Big Brother". I don't think public shaming is useful or effective in newsgroups -- the "best" result is alienation of the individual in question. Either someone really is that stupid or clueless, in which case their personal tragedy needn't become public fodder, or the person is baiting in which case they shouldn't be encouraged. OTOH there was a hilarious post today that came close to the line, and maybe it's okay if it leads to someone becoming more self-aware. Is it okay to ostracise a moron? Discuss. It's obvious that ad hominems are a failure of debate (as debate). Here's a great site: http://www.datanation.com/fallacies/index.htm I'm sure it's been cited here before. Another menace are those debates that shall remain nameless, where the basic thesis is _untestable_, hence fallacious, hence not a fit topic. I was going to say "a waste of time", but challenging the fundamentalist world-view is too much fun to be called that. --DaveL

Message has 1 Reply:

		Re: When is it appropriate to "take it to email" and when isn't it?
(...) I think I know the post to which you are referring, and it was so well crafted that I doubt the moron in question will even understand he has been dissed (rather severely for that matter). Anyways, I don't think its right to ostracise a moron. (...) (23 years ago, 22-Jun-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Message is in Reply To:

		Re: When is it appropriate to "take it to email" and when isn't it?
(...) Interesting topic. I'd say there are a couple reasons to both keep it online and to take it offline. The reason to keep it online is it's a newsgroup. As long as the topic pertains to the newsgroup, it MAY be of public interest to someone now (...) (23 years ago, 22-Jun-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

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