[techhelpbb]

These problems extend into the intellectual world as well. Combative intellectualism is not often productive or functional. Usually all that ends up happening is one intelligent person degrades the other and everyone is the worse for it (everyone makes errors, poke fun, have a little laugh and move on or the error you are making is forgetting the value of your sparing partner...that's not so funny). No physical competition or contact is required.

Combative intellectualism is all over the Internet and between the physical awkwardness of the competition, the demands on time, the sometimes unclear directions. It's little surprise this sort of impolite behavior exists.

The idea of high speed texting, brief, sometimes ambiguous messages on complicated subjects only magnifies the problem. Sure it does help compensate for inadequate interfaces for communications but in the end it cheapens the message by not giving it the authority or longevity sometimes the message deserves. The bigger and more important the message is, the more likely the issue that the message won't leave the desired original impact as it moves out to the fringes of your community hidden behind search engines of various functionality and differences of context.

We all just need to remember as the world gets 'smaller' the good and the harm we can do gets bigger. Sometimes we can't help that, so we should work extra hard when we can help it.