Quote Originally Posted by Dave Hoback View Post
My big pet peeve is there is no reason to be nasty to someone! If you don't agree with someone, fine! Make your point! But don't make a point to tell the other person they are wrong, and spreading misinformation. No need for that. And CERTAINLY NO NEED involve yourself in a an argument two other people are having! I don't do that. I never attack someone's opinion or tell them they are wrong. And I NEVER get involved in anyone else's argument that I wasn't a part of. That's what people have done to me EVERY time. I never start the argument. But I finish them verrrry well. Lol. J/k. No, there's never a winner. But I thought this deuschers nonsense would be humorous here.
Following this advice strictly can present ethical dilemmas.

There are times when an individual deliberately posts false or misleading information. I have seen these posts damage both people and hardware reputations in spite of extraordinarily well informed and polite rebuttals.

Whether motivated by malice or ego self-stroking, these guys can cause enormous damage. The worst kind of trolls are those who crave the attention they gain thriugh rebuttals to their bait. These guys seem to be be clueless about what they do nor the damage they cause. When challenged, the tendency is to first engage in specious arguments, then personal attacks, evolving into the more subtle claim that others have poor reading skills.

I do not envy the role of moderatators in these cases. A forum must have a reasonable level of openness to allow people o test ideas, gain knowledge, and, yes, to get misinformation corrected. That means alot of these untoward posts need to be allowed so conversations can start. Their challenge is determining when the discussions cross over into ego self-stroking and othe pointless argument. Then they must have the courage and determininatiin to close threads and, more rarely, ban repeat offenders.

Not many forums have moderators possessing thesecharecteristics. Those that do tend to be very useful and can be trusted more than what one might otherwise expect.