Is it a bit annoying for you when you're in a debate with someone, and you post something that they can't argue with....and you don't hear from them again in the debate?

No. Just consider it a victory.

It does get kind of annoying. That happens a lot when I give advice to people that they ask for, but just don’t want to hear. They’ll sign offline or just stop responding. I just take it as they’re letting it sink in and trying to deal with the fact that I’m right.

Nobody wants to admit they’re wrong, especially in an anonymous online forum where they have no incentive to do it. I disappear instead of answering ALL the time when I know I’m beat. :p

Just writing something like “Yeah true” and then posting that does feel kind of lame, too, especially if everybody who’s been following it gets an email or other notification of it.

@Haleth I personally don’t have a problem admitting that I’m wrong! But, of course, I never have to do that!! (JK—I remember one time…oh no. Wait, I wasn’t wrong then, either.)

You win. I was wrong. ;-)

Some times it’s kind of a relief when you know you’re 100% right and everyone gives you lurve and you know the other person is 100% wrong and no one gives them lurve, but they keep picking and picking and picking, and you keep holding them back with facts, reason and logic…it’s nice then to maybe the day after tossing off a rather witty rejoinder to not have a misspelled illogical right back atcha to deal with.

@shilolo O, hugs!!! Even tho…we’ve never debated! :)

They could think that you are a brick wall and don’t want to waste more time. I do it all the time.

Maybe the person is just over it. Maybe they feel you are not worth their time. Maybe they just want to leave you wallowing in your ignorance.

Nope.
And typically on arguments in a place like Fluther, I will eventually leave the argument entirely, not because I’m wrong, but because it’s obvious to me that neither of us will change our opinions, and it’s not worth the effort to keep rewording the same sentences over and over again.

this happened a lot more on wis.dm than here
never experienced it here

Yeah, sometimes I disappear if I have nothing more to contribute. Also, sometimes if I agree I just don’t respond. Doing that in another thread proved to be a serious mistake. But I don’t really care; get used to it. That’s not necessarily when I disappear, but when someone posts a long answer and I agree with 90% of it and then my response focuses on the 10% I don’t agree with. I guess some people want me to tell them that I agree with 90% of it in order to be satisfied or they’re think I’m ignoring them, but that’s not what I do. If I don’t respond to it, it usually means I have nothing to contribute because it summarizes my position. So to tall speaking to me in the future, know that. :)

@dalepetrie

I can’t help but feel good when I’m arguing against someone and all my comments are receiving lurve and the other person’s aren’t. Not that I take that too far, but it is nice. :)

I bet I annoy religious people all the time. That’s the penalty for having an argument with a built-in “can’t prove” clause.

@laureth yeah but it’s not like they post anything ever that’s ‘beyond refutation’

It is impossible to post something that can’t be argued with. Someone can always argue – there are people out there who still believe that the earth is flat. Flat Earth Society

@DarkScribe wow

I generally don’t reply in-thread for this reason: people seem to think that what they say “can’t be argued with” when in actuality they’re just being belligerent. A lot of folks seem to have difficulty saying, “My opinion is not the same as yours,” without resorting to insults.

They are probably are off doing something else.

@DarkScribe I’ve met some flat earth society people before. The ones I spoke with were very hostile.

@The_Compassionate_Heretic I’ve met some flat earth society people before. The ones I spoke with were very hostile.

If someone maintains a position that requires them to be constantly defending themselves against what would be effectively all comers – I can understand them becoming naturally hostile.

Personally I don’t find it annoying at all. There are lots of reasons people quite debating and I typically don’t try to assume what is what. Usually i’m just relieved to be out of the debate, lol. I take a light hearted approach to the whole concept. I really don’t think it is about who is right but rather an exchange of ideas so both are challenged to think properly.

It’s not always a victory, sometimes people just get tired of arguing. Hehe.
Although I have been in many circumstances where someone has said essentialy “you are right” and there are a few where I’ve admitted the same, just a few ;).

> you post something that they can’t argue with

Maybe a false assumption. Sometimes I abandon a discussion when I see that the other party is so hopelessly entrenched and (by me) pigheaded that rational debate is out of the question. It took me a long time to learn to walk away instead of having to keep trying to persuade. It is ok to let the other person be wrong. I don’t have to win. I can even stand it when I leave them thinking I was flabbergasted by their unshakably superior and undefeatable rightness. The truth might be that I was just flabbergasted.

Yes, I do get irritated. Maybe it’s not that they can’t argue it, just that they don’t want to argue any longer. But still… If I’m wrong or right, at least have the common courtesy to tell me for crying out loud. If you don’t want the conversation to continue, have the courtesy to at least PM me instead of leaving it hanging in the air. I’ll do that if the conversation gets heated to give some sense of closure.

@all I hear everything you’re saying, but this particular debate was a pseudo-scientific one, where there is room for alternate theories, but not necessarily opinions. I prefer dealing in facts (and blogs don’t count as facts, in my book!).

If you were referring to a specific instance and not just asking in general (as it seemed at the start), would it help for us to look at the question? You asked us if it’s annoying. You didn’t say you were bugged by a particular case and looking for resolution.

I do think a person has a right to abandon a thread at any time without explanation.

Oh, something I also often do, is say I don’t see reason to discuss it further, because [it’s not accomplishing anything | I don’t really feel like it | it’s off-topic | something else]. Then, the other person often wants to have the last word and posts a reply, and then I stick to what I said and don’t reply to that anymore.

@Jeruba Actually, it was on another website, Inquire (NING site.) The debate was raging over whether there are three major races of humans, or more. I believed there were on ly three. The person in question, who is otherwise my friend, did come back on long enough to call me ignorant!! LOL! So I went and got some bigger guns, one person in particular who is loads smarter than me…and I learned some stuff. I learned that it’s almost a personal preference, but the majority of scientist, I think, hold that there are five, so I had to ‘fess I was wrong. HOWEVER, I think my friend may maintain that there are about a hundred. Anyway, it was exhausting, interesting, informative, and I was just a little bit wrong. I just get frustrated when people disagree, but don’t give you anything to back up what they are saying, and resort to name calling and disappearing instead.