Consider this. Put in a single room folks that have laid into each other here, and discuss the very same topic that started a fight. Do you think things will get so out of hand? No. I'm willing to bet it would be completely civil as all the folks discuss their opinions. These peeing matches are an Internet phenomena. You don't hear the inflections in people's voices, you don't see expressions on people's faces. You can slip into saying something rotten without having to actually see the other person's reaction, so you do it. Discussing things on the Internet lays open the possibility of completely losing the cordiality that would not exist in a real life round table discussion. We're all in a room together discussing what will or might devalue an artifact. One person suggests oil will devalue, one says no way. In a real life social setting, do you think they are going to come to physical blows with each other or start screaming at each other? I seriously doubt it.
One thing I've noticed, and I've lapsed into this mode myself on forums at times: when someone disagrees with your opinion in a way that is interpreted as a threat to your credibility or is taken as a response that belittles your opinion,
it becomes very easy to let your anger show, and before you know it, the fight is on. When people disagree completely with someone's opinion, especially if the poster has obviously put a lot of effort into his/her comment, and obviously feels they are knowledgable, if you strongly disagree, don't reply in a way that so much as hints that you think that persons detailed comments were those of a clueless idiot. Simply disagree respectfully with facts that you feel contradict the posters observations. The original poster can then not feel belittled and not feel he/she has to defend themselves, rather then defend their observations. Bottom line: none of these peeing matches would get so out of hand in a real life setting, where people are far more likely to behave politely to counter arguments.
The same guy you get into a sharp and nasty exchange with is just as likely to be the same guy you'd enjoy sitting down and having a beer with if you actually knew him.
The person you belittle, or who feels he's been belittled, has self respect and an ego like every other human being, and that ego will usually react when it feels it has been belittled.
