Effective Posting Styles (And Suggested Improvements)

Wow, that data is scary for the USA. Thanks for providing it. Now all we gotta do is find out why the USA is so very different from the other countries in the survey. Not being from the USA, I don't really have any input, except that fundamentalists are much more common in the US. Do you think that could be the answer?I gather that you're not exactly a fan of religion but I wonder how you feel about those to whom their religion is a personal belief, is recognised as being unsupported by any evidence and plays no role in their understanding of reality and science.

I can tell you what isn't an effective posting style, yet we see it all too often here.Most debates centre round a difference of opinion, neither one or the other is correct, for example the debate for and against foxhunting in the UK or abortion or healthcare. The object of the exercise is to make the most persuasive argument to influence an audience. That's why politicians who can debate well, do well.This board is unique in that often we are dealing with fact eg mechanisms of mutation, atomic theory. Yes, the body of knowledge may be tweaked as new information comes to light, but in essence the fundamentals are established. In circumstances such as these, it doesn't matter how persuasive an argument is made, it doesn't change the facts.The most ineffective style, imho, is one which employs the tactic we see all to often in the political world - rhetoric. Soundbites work in the political arena but they are just empty noise in the science arena. For example and Neither of these statements contains any factual information, rebuttal of contrary arguments, but contain what we all call "spin". In this environment that is about as ineffective as you can getSo I suppose that an effective posting style addresses the topic with facts and evidence, avoids spin and rhetoric and deals with what has actually been posted by opponents. It can include reducto ad absurdum and infact this is one of the most effective ways of countering an opposing argument.But by far and away, the best posting style involves humour, an admission of error if you're wrong and total honesty.