Jack, thanks, you're right. I'm not complaining about the OP. It's the way the conversation immediately went to Mudcat arguments in general, sounding as if the participants thought everyone who argues on Mudcat does so in order to be right. I take exception to it when conclusions are drawn about a group that I am a member of when those conclusions don't describe me. Actually, I take exception to it when those assumptions do describe me, since they probably don't describe every individual in the group. There was also a subtle sub-text in the conversation that people who act as if they need to be right all the time are in fact not right. This logical fallacy sets my teeth on edge. Actually two logical fallacies: assuming that A equals B with insufficient evidence, and trying to make a point by acting as if the underlying assumptions of the conversation are true when when those assumptions have not been tested and agreed upon.

I do see some of the compulsive needing to be right here, but more often see people who won't take on new evidence and so keep themselves in a state of being wrong about something. It's a slightly different thing, I think, and comes from holding some very strong but factually or ethically unjustified beliefs that for one reason or another they aren't able to change. The basic nature of the conversation is, of course, the same either way. The problem is compounded by the fact that many of us seem willing to say the same things over and over in thread after thread. It starts to look like needing to be right all the time, but is more likely a personality type that just won't let things drop. Having the argument is more important, in some cases, than who is right or wrong. I had a couple of family members who were like that when I was growing up and credit them, in part, for my love of the great outdoors. Again, liking-to-argue is a bit different than needing-to-be-right but produces the same basic result.

I think that unjustified name-calling and ad hominem attacks are a bigger problem, as is compulsive troll-responding.