Very good link.
I enjoy stimulating debate on this forum. It does force a person to research their position and become informed on the topic they are discussing.
If we choose to try to B.S. our way thru a topic around here, we can be sure that someone with expertise in that field will challenge us on it. Some brutally, some comically. And you'd better watch your spelling and grammar also! And a person is wise to get a sense of humor about themselves.
Do we debate? Yes. Do some attack rather than debate? Yes. But alot of us find our own ways of handling it.
Some days I choose to not turn my attention toward the one negative comment, when there are hundreds of positive things to absorb here.
Other days, I might respond to a personal attack. I always try to stay on topic.(okay, except when the thread gets silly) Sometimes doing that can be more frustrating to the personal attackers than responding to their level.
There are so many brilliant people here, who have so much information to share. It's astounding what is available to me at this website.
I can't imagine with the thousands of posters here that ANYONE would expect an insult free environment. Get a small group of people together anywhere (like my family) and you WILL have disagreements, some of which will not be very nice.
That said, I find FR to be very civil and very tame for a website, where people comment from the safety of their keyboard. I have seen more vicious attacks and heard more vicious comments in the workplace!
Cheers to FR!
Good post.