Discussions, arguments and debates.

[Entwhistle]

You are jsut trying to turn a harmless debate or discussion into a fully blown argument. Not very civil of you old chap.

 

He is trolling!

[hard2miss]

I think the difference between debating and arguing is when one or both of the debating parties personalises it.

 

My personal hate is when people mention my spelling or other such menial point to try and score a goal. When you are debating something you try and put your point across and sway opinion your way and the problems arise when the other side cannot counter your argument or express their own point in a meaningful manor, then it gets nasty and turns into a point scoring game where anything goes, insults, ridicule, threats ect ect.

 

A troll just sets out from the off with that in mind and goes straight for the reactionary arguments and does so with only the conviction for the argument and no real substance or input to the topic.

[shanes teeth]

Is there a difference between a "Troll" and someone playing "Devils Advocate".I personally see nothing wrong with introducing unpopular or controversial arguments in order to explore different points of view and to broaden a discussion.

[flamingjimmy]

You are jsut trying to turn a harmless debate or discussion into a fully blown argument. Not very civil of you old chap.

 

No that's not what I'm saying at all, I'm saying that arguments can and usually are completely and totally civil.

 

Many dictionary definitions of the word argument that you will find actually list 'debate' as a synonym.

[HeadingNorth]

Your definition of debate is pretty much my definition of argument. You can't have a debate without putting forward arguments! Arguments definitely do not have to be emotional.

 

The dictionary definition agrees with you, but most people do draw a distinction between a civilized debate, and what they call an argument, which is more a case of "Is so!" "Is not!" "Is so!"

 

 

As for trolling ... a troll is posting, not to publish his own opinion, but purely in order to stir up emotions. When someone actually has an opinion that will stir up violent emotions, they are often indistinguishable from a genuine troll, which is unfortunate for them.

[HeadingNorth]

Is there a difference between a "Troll" and someone playing "Devils Advocate".I personally see nothing wrong with introducing unpopular or controversial arguments in order to explore different points of view and to broaden a discussion.

 

I think that is the difference. A troll is doing it in order to stir up trouble - often, indeed, in an attempt to cause a thread to degenerate into swapping insults so that it will be closed.

 

Playing devil's advocate in order to challenge someone's assumptions is quite a different animal. I do it often myself, when I'm more interested in making someone reconsider the thinking behind their viewpoint, than I am in whether that viewpoint is a good one.

[andikay]

I think that is the difference. A troll is doing it in order to stir up trouble - often, indeed, in an attempt to cause a thread to degenerate into swapping insults so that it will be closed.

 

Playing devil's advocate in order to challenge someone's assumptions is quite a different animal. I do it often myself, when I'm more interested in making someone reconsider the thinking behind their viewpoint, than I am in whether that viewpoint is a good one.

 

I agree,

 

I just don’t understand why the thread is closed giving the troll what they want, and depriving the sensible members from continuing with the discussion.

 

Ban the trolls don’t close the threads.