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It's not that there's no point in arguing

Story: The futility of arguing with paid advocatesTotal Replies: 0
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AnonymousCoward

Sep 08, 2004
6:18 PM EDT 		It's just that your point in debate will not always be to convert the other person. If the only tool you have is a hammer, everything you face looks like a nail.

If instead of aiming for outright conversion on day one with the maximum possible confrontation, your labour might be more profitably spent on gently obtaining a few concessions or admissions in areas which your sparring partner doesn't regard as key to their strategy. With concessions in hand, the FOSS-bagger will now have to be more careful about what they say, and of course if they concede enough they'll wake up to find that they've been nibbled to death by ducks: they can't say anything bad about FOSS without contradicting themselves.

Think "I'm sorry, is this a five minute argument, or the full half-hour?" if you find yourself taking the situation too seriously.

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