When someone becomes personally abusive I think the sensible thing to do is to end the chat, rather than descend to their level.
Do you agree?
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ArishMell · 70-79, M
Yes, withdraw with dignity from the argument. If the opposite number has become abusive it usually means he or she cannot debate the topic rationally. Certainly don't stoop to their level.
If the abuse is really serious you can not only block but also report the individual. I have had to do that, but only once, when a former(?) SW user took it on himself to call me all sort of childishly vicious names for no reason during a perfectly innocent discussion with the third-party whose thread it was. He was later warned, and I gather one or two others had similar treatment from him. I think he later left the site - or was expelled - but crept back under a different alias months later, as I received a similar attack in a similar "literary" style. Oddly, he was capable of decent discussion, but I did notice his first alias was the acronym for an obscenity.
The only real defence for the site as whole against people who behave in that way, is for the administrators to bar the miscreant via the real identity they know.
If the abuse is really serious you can not only block but also report the individual. I have had to do that, but only once, when a former(?) SW user took it on himself to call me all sort of childishly vicious names for no reason during a perfectly innocent discussion with the third-party whose thread it was. He was later warned, and I gather one or two others had similar treatment from him. I think he later left the site - or was expelled - but crept back under a different alias months later, as I received a similar attack in a similar "literary" style. Oddly, he was capable of decent discussion, but I did notice his first alias was the acronym for an obscenity.
The only real defence for the site as whole against people who behave in that way, is for the administrators to bar the miscreant via the real identity they know.