I am grateful to have never been flamed here, since I am the sort to be hurt when someone doesn't respond to a PM, so I'm not sure what I would do if someone did. (Oh wait, someone did once and my daughter told him to quit. Oh well.)
Larry, I think you are definitely on the right track, though I'm afraid that the ones who really like argument, as opposed to discussion, will probably ignore your advice.
Me? I pay much more attention to those whose discussions are couched in civilised language and moderate tones--or whose rants are offered with the ranter's ego firmly in hand (end of rant...thank you for listening...I'll take my soapbox home now!) and by and large, Mudcatters are pretty civilised. That's why I stick around.
CamiSu