It is curious just the same, that you and James don't back down.
To tell the truth, I think I may have a character flaw in that regard. I don't like arrogance and I detest people who try to bully other people. As a result, I have a tendency in some contexts to want to take the arrogant down a notch or two, and I really have a low tolerance threshold for bullies. Both of those attitudes probably stem from some personal experiences I had in the past. Their practical consequence is that I probably waste more time than I should on those kinds of people, which is not always a productive thing to do.
I've noticed this with a few others here, and it's admirable to someone like me, who may go a few rounds, if that...but would prefer retreat and maybe a public ''loss,'' than fight to the end...and risk losing anyway. Does that make sense?
I think you make a good point.
Giving certain people more of your attention than they deserve is counterproductive in several respects. It tends to give them more airtime than they deserve. They inevitably try to drag you down to their level and sometimes, if you lose your cool, they succeed to a greater or lesser extent. Also, your own actions in replying to them as if they deserve your attention has the sort of side-effect of lending them legitimacy that they might not otherwise have, if you're of good character and have a good reputation. It's sort a of guilt-by-association effect that works negatively in both respects. Just by giving them the time of day, it makes them look better (by association) and you look worse (for the same reason).
That's why I say it's a sort of character flaw to persist in engaging with certain types of people. Unfortunately for me, I seem to have certain buttons that can be pushed.
Probably, I'm not as bad as I used to be, on this. I hope I've learned
something over the years.
I'm not a confrontational person, in general, although there are ''causes'' offline that I stand up for, people I may stand up to. Forums can be good training grounds however, for the real thing. Just don't take the internet too, too seriously.
That's great advice, wegs. When I started on internet forums over 20 years ago, I initially made the mistake of taking some people far too seriously. At that stage, I didn't really have a good idea about what an internet troll was, or how they operate. In fact, at that time, the whole concept was quite a new thing, since the world wide web itself was only just really starting to take off in popularity. These days, I'm very wary of making emotional investments in internet arguments because it so often turns out that the other party in the discussion/argument/debate is not being honest, about themself or their position, or in how they conduct themselves, or some combination of those.