"I was wrong, and I'm sorry"

- words you never see on internet discussion boards...

You'd think it would be easy wouldn't you? I mean, it's not like you're face to face with the people you're arguing with. You're just a collection of dots on a computer screen.

Yet that very lack of person to person interaction seems to make it harder maybe.

But my experience is, the best you can hope for, even if you demonstrate conclusively and unequivocally that the other guy got it wrong, is that they just shut up. It seldom causes them t change their point of view. So the reason for taking the time to argue on internet forums is not to win an argument against an opponent, but to present a good argument for your audience.