On this site, there are many forum questions that are asked. Now, most of the time, the posts are very helpful and informative. If you are instructing someone who is new on something, would it not be best to end it with your opinion on the matter? I'll explain: if someone asks the question, "Are vampires real?" and you tell them "no"...if someone else says "yes", don't argue with them; simply say, "I disagree, and I think that..." You have both stated your opinions; many magickal questions cannot be definitely proven as "yes" or "no"; therefore, people will always have their own beliefs. This is not to say that you should not back up what you say; in the aforementioned example on vampires, it would be best to say something like, "I don't think they are real, because there are a few, set scientific factors that have tended to negate the idea of vampires..." Now whenever you argue, all you do is cause differences to build up between you and the other person, and often the question gets lost amongst the debate. Also, if you tell someone that they are wrong, and the person is not a "newbie", so-to-speak (and sometimes if they are), chances are that they will not believe you, even if you give them 10,000 reasons why they are wrong (and visa-versa). So basically...why argue when it will do no good?
If anyone has a better way of wording this, please feel free to do so in a reply, I know this wording is a little off. Thanks.
Thunor I have followed some of your posts in the past. With as many diverse people on this site not everything will come off all sweet and mushy to everyone; to some it may be rude. Thus read it again since facial expressions and tones of voice can not accompany the response.
Your post this time seems to be nothing more than wanting to argue symantics, if you don't like someone's reply "PM" them and save the forums for real Magic(k) questions and issues. ;)
Sorry Draggy_ that you feel that way about the symantecs, but I have just really noticed that in several instances arguing has caused a post's meaning to be lost because someone's feelings got hurt. I have no specific examples of that, but I am sure that I could mozzie through the forums and find plenty.
P.S.: @Aquafish: yeah, good point.
P.P.S.: @Draggy_: Thanks for stating that line about the "PM", that really helped define this thread a little better.
I think most people argue because they think they're not thoroughly getting their point across and that they want the other person to change their opinion. I've done it before, we all have...
Debating is healthy, arguing is counter-productive in my opinion. In the case of vampires (since it was mentioned in the first post), I consider the term nothing more than a label given to someone that draws energy from an outside source that has been blows up and canabalized through fantasy and even more so on this site due to the aversion to using any term that has been used in well-known fantasies.
Whether or not people agree with me or not is not my concern, but simply stating my opinion to the person asking the question to let them know my views on the topic. If someone disagrees with me, I refuse to let their attitude digress the forums from the original post, but I am always more than willing to debate opinions and theories in PMs.
I don't really see that there is much point in forums and chatter for discussion, simply for us all to sit around agreeing with each other. Our points of view are there for us to assert. Let's assert them! :)
