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How to know if you have won an argument on the internet

We've all been there, having a heated discussion with someone online, you promote your viewpoint, they promote theirs.

But how do you know if you have won the argument?

We aren't in High School anymore, there isn't a group of teachers and administrators to offer their judgement on who actually won the argument.

How would you know? Let the Munster clue you in....

First way: Person stops responding. This is the most obvious one. If they stop responding, that means they have nothing further to say on the matter, and you win by default.

Second way: Person blocks you. Similar to the first way, if the person is so overwhelmed by your responses that they block you, it means they can't handle the argument anymore. You win again.

Third way: Ad hominem or straw man responses. Person responds beside the point, or engages in personal attacks instead of attacks on your argument. You've upset them emotionally and this is the only way they can respond. You win again.

Fourth way: Person reports you to the administrators. A true coward move, unless you have gone way over the line and are threatening the person, this should never happen. When it does, it's an admittance that the person is overwhelmed by the argument and is desperately looking for a savior. You win again.

Fifth way: Person and his/her like minded pals "brigade" you, as in, they all attack you at once and try to trip you up or they all try to report you to the admins if you happened to say something that could get you sanctioned. This is a tough one to go through, and ultimately, you may not win. You may find the admins have no choice but to sanction you. However, console yourself with the knowledge that it took a whole group of assholes coming after you to trip you up. There is no shame in this one, if anything the shame should be directed at the brigaders and their ringleader for their shitty and cowardly response.

Have I missed any?
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Beautifullyderanged · 41-45, F
I don't know if the stop responding one is always true. I had an argument on here with someone and he wouldn't stop replying (he likes to have the last word) and it was late, I was tired, so I told him that he had proved the point that I had made about his behaviour and that I would let him reply to me as he obviously couldn't help himself, but not respond to him so he could have the last word. He did reply but I have no idea what he said as I didn't read it as as far as I was concerned the conversation was done. So did he win if I told him I was done with the conversation and didn't reply to whatever his last post said so in essence I stopped responding? Sometimes walking away shows you have won, shows more maturity maybe, knowing when to stop.
SumKindaMunster · 56-60, M
@Beautifullyderanged That's a fair rebuttal and I agree with you. Perhaps you could look at it as this person was engaging in ad hominmen attacks(Number 3) and you knew that he would never stop responding. So you did the mature thing and moved on.

I would say you still won the argument and it was Number 3 that sunk the other person.
Beautifullyderanged · 41-45, F
@SumKindaMunster I suppose it could be, I think it depends on how you define an attack. For example verbal abuse is see as an attack, what he was doing was just childish, but thinking about it as I type this, 3 would be the best place for it without having to create more options that go way too indepth :)
SumKindaMunster · 56-60, M
@Beautifullyderanged Yeah...yeah we aren't hammering out public policy here just talking about internet behavior. 😆

Thanks for your contributions!
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