Sound advice

This comes from an exchange in the comments section in the blog by the excellent Toasted Suzy, but has I feel universal application; hence, the repost.

Write to learn, not to "Put the Smack down" on people. Write to communicate, not to win.

...And, above all, don't be an asshole. If you really want people to listen to what you have to say, know what you are talking about, say it clearly, so that your intended audience can understand, and say it in a way that makes people want to listen to you.

If it's the choir you're preaching at, then you can go ahead and keep saying the same pre-packaged phrases over and over again. If you want to change the way people think, you'll have to establish common ground. Addressing them as your intellectual inferiors is not the way to do this--especially if they are clearly not intellectually inferior to you.

Try a problem solution approach to argumentaion, rather than choosing a side. It is less combative and, more importantly, it is less likely to lead you into making absolute statements.

...The people you are talking to--all of them--have real feelings and those feelings DO matter. Sometimes it is those feelings alone that will determine the course of the conversation.


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And just for final roundness, ladies and germs, the key point here, once again:


And, above all, don't be an asshole.