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Even better, just avoid online arguments.

Exactly.

What about if someone is sealioning?

I would say to do the same thing. You’re just feeding into them if you keep trying to change their mind. But that’s just my opinion.

For comedic purposes, I was gonna ask you another question, but no, it's not clever.

You're not obligated to participate in every argument you're invited to. - Unknown

You make a really good point there!

no. sometimes it's fun.

Actually, that wasn't said by Unknown.

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Mandy Hale?

I disagree, you should enter every argument possible /s

Better yet, don’t argue on the internet. You will never change anyone else’s mind about anything important.

There are copious studies on the neurochemistry of an argument that show an inability to edit certain sections of memory that came about as an evolutionary tool: killing a bear barehanded once obviously shouldn’t change the classification of a bear as fucking dangerous. The portions of our brain that we hold ideas about religion and politics (the most common sources of argument) happen to fall into these protected regions. This is made doubly worse by the loss of inflection and nuance from text compared to speech.

I try to limit myself to a single response for exactly this reason unless I find I’ve actually learned something and the conversation is non-combative, and the more the comment opposes mine the less likely I am to respond. In theory, I’m not perfect.

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I found myself engaging in lots of meaningless debates on the internet until I watched a Ted talk about Confucius' Way of the Water. It's highly recommended. I'm in a very stressful place in my life right now, and this teaching is helping me deflect the worst stress since I can't really do much about the things in my life that I don't like.

By looking at previous comments.

The best solution is never voice an opinion other than the popular one. This will allow you to groom karma and never need to form opinions of your own.

As for fact checking, ignore it. You can find all of the information you need to support your position but just go back to the first sentence of this comment and all will be well.

Yes it was, man. Thats the problem with you people.

Well, I do agree that you're not going to change the other person's mind.

But (especially if it's a high-traffic, general-interest forum), there are a lot of others who will read your exchange, and THEY might be influenced if their minds are not set on the matter.

So make the best argument you can. You might pick up a few new people on your side, especially if your arguments are reasoned and in good faith. Tone makes a difference.

LPT: Don’t argue with strangers online even though it’s tempting. It’s almost always a total waste of time and you rarely get anything out of it. Spend your time better.

In my opinion, arguments should be dropped in favour of disputes. Disputes can be informative and can help you understand perspectives while arguments are targeted towards a specific person or group. And yes, I did use them interchangeably, but I think it’s important we recognize when to engage in disputes, because some are inevitable, and some are just pointless.

If your intended audience isn’t the person you’re arguing with, better to ignore them and address your intended audience directly, no?

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