Can of worms I am sure but here goes nothing. The heading of the BS section is "BS/General Discussion Threads:". To my mind a discussion is where people get together to discuss things to learn more about the subject and about each other. It has no losers because everyone comes away with something new. It is not a mutual admiration society either as people will disagree but may at least begin to understand other points of view. If someone says something in discussion they may expect to have their points queried and have opposing views put forth but they should not have to put up with having their own views dissected or ridiculed as being invalid. A discussion is not a debate. A debate is, by nature, confrontational while a discussion should be a mutual trip towards a fuller understanding. If people want debates, they should go to a debating forum where there are formal rules to prevent the type of repetition and circular arguments we sometimes get on here. Debates should be governed by a panel who decides which is the best argument and then closes the debate. To that end, I have made it a personal rule to avoid debate on Mudcat. As soon as someone starts to use debating tactics I will try to avoid them. I suggest that if everyone does the same we will have a sweeter smelling BS section. Discuss :-)
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