User:Dpbsmith

Thoughts on discussions

• You cannot change someone else's mind unless you are willing to take the risk of having your mind changed.
• State someone else's opinion in your own words and keep trying new wording until that person agrees that your statement is accurate. Then have the other person do the same. If you can do this, you have accomplished something. Two adults should always be able to accomplish that much. And this is the most that can usually be accomplished.
• A set of data so clear that it points to only one possible conclusion is probably phony data.
• To win an argument means to convince an audience that you performed better than your opponent. Convincing your opponent that your beliefs have merit is a different goal. Which is your goal?

To people who left Wikipedia and are disappointed when Conservapedia "seems the same:"

Drove up a newcomer in a covered wagon: 'What kind of folks live around here?' 'Well, stranger, what kind of folks was there in the country you come from?' 'Well, they was mostly a lowdown, lying, thieving gossiping, backbiting kind lot of people.' 'Well, I guess, stranger, that's about the kind of folks you'll find around here.' And the dusty gray stranger had just about blended into the dusty gray cottonwoods in a clump on the horizon when another newcomer drove up: 'What kind of folks live around here?' 'Well, stranger, what kind of folks was there in the country you come from?' 'Well, they was mostly a decent, hardworking, lawabiding, friendly lot of people.' 'Well, I guess, stranger, that's about the kind of folks you'll find around here.'"