Deafening the opposition with Silence

What is the most effective method of getting your point across here on ATS? When you find yourself debating with another poster and they don't seem to be listening to anything you say, how do you get your message through? They don't address the points you make and continue to ignore anything contrary to their view. You can persist with pushing your points, but often they continue to fall on deaf ears. These posters come in many varieties. There are the last word freaks (I'm probably one of these), the common agenda pushers and the posters who cannot distinguish opinions from facts, just to name a few. Often these posters all require one common element to survive...A reply. As difficult as it may be at times, by remaining silent and resisting the temptation to post a reply, you can silence your opposition.

How do I know? Well this method has been used to silence me a number of times, and to date, I have no answer to it.

The irony! I guess this means you all knew this already?

No, I just think they are usig your own trick against you. LOL

mytm is right,

Sometimes when I feel I am not getting through to another member. Or he or she is avoiding my questions; I just stop posting in that thread.

I think it is a rhetorical question that doesn't need an answer.

I think I know one poster that you are referring to and I understand your frustration at not being able to have a conversation of debating points back and forth with them. Some people will never see eye-to-eye, let alone be on the same playing field with each other.

You have found the answer - don't reply to them.

If they kill enough threads because people don't respond to their diatribe, they will either adjust their attitude appropriately or lose interest in ATS and move on to somewhere else.

I have read older threads that "dropped off" and could tell from the tone of the posts that a person tried to dominate it with their opinion(s) and the rest of the posters just left the whole thread alone. "Fighting words" push me away from a thread more than a good head-to-head, point-and-counterpoint debate ever have.

As some other members have said in other posts lately, it is the practice of developing a thick skin and knowing when to let the thread lay and die.

Cheers,

JDub

I appreciate your sentiments and agree. Whirling, sucking, black vortex of despair at times. Sometime's "Life's like a box of chocolates" can be frustrating especially when you are trying to suss out something for yourself using cogent, logical debate to help have a more complete understanding of whatever and then... nothin' but dial tone or worse some tirade-like ranting of non-sequitor and circlular argument with a lot of passion/belief/bravado and little fact and even less citation/documentation - not only is one no better off knowledge-wise from such engagements but can at times more easily be baited/angered into stating something that makes one no better than the rhetoric involved.
Some folks just yell to hear themselves - some maybe have less noble motives and some wont be happy ever or at least until the rest of the world feels as miserable as they do.
On the bright side - there's plenty of good, maybe even great, folks here that are willing to engage and help further debate/learning for all the right motives. I'm blown away by some of the professional quality "citizen-journalist" research and the Full-Spectrum - run what you brung subject matter.
You want diversity of thought? This is THE place - full stop.
Don't get mad. Somedays you'll be the windshield - and somedays the bug. Keep your spirits up and bring us "truckloads of good data" and help us discover and share the truth - whatever that truth turns out to be.

Hi, mytym. I totally agree.
IMO
Debating endlessly with someone that you realize is only in it for the 'debate' and offers nothing constructive to a particular discussion, is nothing more than a waste of time and energy. The integrity of the discussion is also compromised.
Like an irresistable force against an immovable object, much energy is being wasted with absolutely no forward movement, no progress.

It's not always easy to pull the plug, but sometimes necessary.
Quality should always win out over quantity.

Cut the feed to energy vampires and denying them their feast with the defiant (often underestimated) power of silence.

The only problem with the power of silence, is that if you are like me and enjoy a debate, you're starving yourself too. It's thread suicide. However, as it's for the greater good, sometimes you have to make these sacrifices.