I dunno, I might be the cause of said acrimony, but I happen to find a value even in the basest, most personal, most obnoxious forms of debate. I mean, there's a thread that just got cut off because the words "stupid" and "coward" were used. Could you imagine this thread on Usenet? Could you imagine a thread that didn't involve four or five insults on Usenet?
I mean, I'd like every discussion to be austere and intellectual and full of choice value and kindness, but I've found that in cases where people are intellectually entrenched into a position, they tend not to move, even when faced with overwhelming fact. Passion moves people - it shows the person you're debating with that the facts matter - they mattered enough to alter your perceptions - and you believe them enough to fight with passion and concern. While insults and pettiness tends not to amuse others, it does happen to show people that you'll go to the mat for your issue.
Of course I dunna like being told that my options are k-line or shaddup, but after taking the k-line more then a few times in IRC (debates with ops tend not to be that high quality), I'll be quiet and live wiff it. I'm not brutally offended - a lot of times, I can debate passionately and play with my counter at the same.
Besides, how long can we talk about Wrestling, and wait for Gavok to harvest weird hyperlinks and Fark?
-TMP-
Just so this post meets topical requirements: Have you ever noticed that Dub's Yummy Mummy kinda looks like the cowgirl from Rumble Roses? Discuss.