"Hey Idiot! I disagree with your bitcoin views, so you should agree with mine."

[oneforall]

If someone posts something about Bitcoin, and you feel you have a valid counter point that nullifies what they have said, and you would like them to be able to see where it is you are coming from, then insulting them is not going to help. If you start off with a common ground, slowly lead away from there using what you view to be sound logic and ultimately arrive at you view, then you stand a much better chance of having them be able to understand your view. As soon as most people feel they have been insulted they switch to attack mode and healthy dialogue goes right out the window.

[BinaryMage]

If someone posts something about Bitcoin, and you feel you have a valid counter point that nullifies what they have said, and you would like them to be able to see where it is you are coming from, then insulting them is not going to help. If you start off with a common ground, slowly lead away from there using what you view to be sound logic and ultimately arrive at you view, then you stand a much better chance of having them be able to understand your view. As soon as most people feel they have been insulted they switch to attack mode and healthy dialogue goes right out the window.

Agreed, and I think most people do this. The trolls are the real problem here.

[Travis]

Since joining I've noticed some posters blatantly insult/flame/attack others, and that nothing happened. Repeated instances of that shit gets banned on other forums, for good reason, to improve the quality of discussion. There is nothing so bad about the Bitcoin crowd that we can't have this place be a whole lot more civilized with a bit more moderation. Add more moderators if you need to. And us normal users can report posts more to get the point across.

[TonyHoyle]

The banhammer is something you have to be *really* careful with.   On the last forum I ran it I only used it once in 5 years, and that was only when the guy took to personal insults after being warned several times.

Most trolls make a few posts then get bored and go away.  It's fun to watch them make idiots of themselves before the penny drops that everyone's laughing at them :p

[oneforall]

I dislike banning/censorship. My point in posting this was to reach people who feel passionately about their views on Bitcoin, but get so emotional about their stance that they don't explain WHY they are so passionate but rather focus on showing people that they ARE passionate. Passion in any direction, I feel, is beneficial if one can make it as clear as possible where this passion is originating.