galenrox

THIS is the best advice that has been given so far! If you maintain a sense of humor, you're success here will be boundless!

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Conflict

That is very true as well.

I think if we combined Staces post with Kal-Els.. we would find a very good description of how one should approach a thread in an intellectual manner....

Don't be scared to ask questions or offer opinion... but at the same time don't be so bold as to ignore questions and dictate opinion.

Conflict

And NEVER, EVER call anyone a dingleberry.

Seriously though... If I call someone a dingleberry... it means that I have some sort of appreciation for you. I call my best friends dingleberry... it's a term I use often in real and virtual life. It is not meant to be an insult. We can all be dingleberries at times and that is the application of the word that I subscribe to.

The moral of the story is... to not be so opportune to take offense to the semantics of your opponent or responder. Don't judge the book by it's cover. Again.. something that I, and most of us all, are guilty of at times. Tolerance within reason.

alphieb

Don't debate while drinking. You might say something stupid that you will regret.

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"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself"--FDR

"Be the Dream"--alphieb

"Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor". --Truman Capote

Stace

I forget whether or not this has already been mentioned (gee, do I sound Southern or what?), but one of the last posts I just read made me think of it, so if it's already been said....it bears repeating.

Don't generalize. Or, try not to, anyway. Not all conservatives fit into some little mold, nor do all liberals. You may think you're being cute, or maybe you really are dead serious and think that all members of one group think the same way on an issue, but it's a surefire way to get a lot of people angry with you real quick.

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Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.

~Benjamin Franklin

ptsdkid

Allow debatable postings to air on the Political Platform forum, period!

Billo_Really

Try to keep your personal feelings toward a particular poster out of your analytical judgement when evaluating an assertion.

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"With neocons, it just goes to show, when the
bar is low enough, you can never be too wrong!"

Billo_Really

Try to make your point without writing War and Peace. Some people get so long winded with their posts I've had to struggle just stay focused when reading them.

Gardener

About the only advice I could offer would be to remember that well chosen adjectives act to multiply the effect of specific epithets, and that for those less than well versed in the more subtle aspects of invective, your lack of creativity in this regard will earn you demerits. For instance: "You goat tic", is certainly a reasonable enough charge to level against your opponant, but you will add to the power of your statement by applying the word "syphlitic" in conjunction. Even better if you could also remember your verbs, so that "Syphlitic goat tic" becomes "Syphlitic goat tic sucking on the diseased carcass of three day old road kill". Style, people, style!

Conversely, calling somebody a "liberal" or "conservative" by a way of really sticking it to them falls well short of the requirements for good flaming. In this case, adjectives can still bail you out a wee bit, but while "perverted liberal" or "heartless conservative" does add to your statement to a small degree, the term "typical" actually reduces the effectiveness.

Unless, of course, you add that to your more enlightened discourse, in which case "You typical liberal (or conservative) goat tic sucking on the diseased carcass of three day old road kill" is perfectly acceptable.

AlbqOwl

Guilty as charged. It would help to not be long winded if more posters would allow a benefit of the doubt or ask for clarifications. (Billo_Really with whom I agree with not much generally does do that.) I tend to write longer than I should to avoid being misunderstood. It doesn't work of course, but that's usually why I do it. Shorter posts are definitely more likely to be read by me, and most likely by everybody else. I'm going to try to do better on that count.

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"I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it." --Benjamin Franklin 1776