A confession:

When someone says something that rubs me the wrong way, I'll engage them in a conversation that starts out with "I think you're mistaken for the following reasons (1) (2) (3). What was your thought process for getting here?"

A useful conversation can come out of this. It used to quite often. There are plenty of opinions around here, and most of the old-school crew has a pretty good idea about how to come across with a differing opinion such that someone's either going to change their mind or at the very least, broaden their horizon a little.

If that conversation wasn't useful, the second time I see the same person rubbing me the wrong way, the conversation is "yeah, you're definitely wrong. You didn't consider (4) (5) or (6). Now that I've presented them to you, what do you think?"

This breaks things one way or the other. Either they've made me think, I've made them think, or we both know the other person isn't a thinker. Fine by me. Their opinion of me doesn't much matter. Sometimes they'll light up a post about what a big fucking meanie I am. That's fine. That means they're going to flame out and go away soon. Problem solved.

Lately, however, the response to the first discussion is "HOW DARE YOU BRING UP REASONS."

Fuck it. It's no longer worth my time to put up a defense. So you end up with an environment toxic to discussion and the only people left are the ones who just wanted to speak into the void for more than 140 characters.