If you want your comment
To be read and taken seriously
Please
Avoid the following:
Broad generalizations and stereotyping
Insults and name calling
Screaming that your enemies scream too much
Talking about things you don’t actually have
Any experience with
Assuming things about the other people online
That may or may not be true
Assuming the worst of other people online
Using buzz words in such a way that they are meaningless
Attacking straw man arguments
That have nothing to do with the issues at hand
Contradicting yourself
Being about divisiveness instead of discussion
Not being willing to entertain ideas
The only thing you convince people of
By being a jerk
Is that you are indeed
A jerk
As someone once said
“Rudeness is the weak man’s imitation
Of strength.”
Please try the following:
Ask questions
Restate what the other person said to see
If you actually understand it
Or if you are replacing their ideas
With what you think they said
Treat other people like, well, people
Don’t assume you know everything
Admit uncertainty.
Express your ideas with
The goal of changing people’s minds
Instead of repelling them.
Talk about your personal experiences
And actual, factual, vetted examples
Of what you are talking about
Instead of rumors and sensationalized
News stories.
Try being the nicest person on the thread.
Start with an actual desire to be listened to
Rather than a desire to prove how right you are.
Be civil.
If all you do is yell
You are having a fight, not an argument.
Arguments are actually
Supposed to lead to agreement.
And as someone else once said,
the first rule of argument
Is
Be agreeable.