Do you ever hesitate to respond. . .

I do not hesitate to say what I think. That is just the way that I am. I am a very up front, hoenst, and blunt person in real life. I won't make "facts" up to prove my point nor will I have an opinion on somethign unless I have researched it. I don't think there is anythign wrong with having your own opinion and sharing it, as long as you can take that someone has a differing opinion.

Yes definately there was a post although I wont say too much about it and start another debate that seemed to create a big stir and although I did ponder on whether to reply to what I felt was a ost written by someone very small minded I felt that as this person had posted on this site that he wanted a response otherwise he would have kept his opinion to himself. I did remain very reserved in my response but think I said what I needed to and although this guy seemed to have an answer for everything I let him warble on to himself as I had said my peice and his responses to everyone who had responded had totally ignored what the responder had said and was pretty much what the guy had put in the first place, there was no reasoning and although many seemed to get irate with teh poster I saw that we were all fightinga loosing battle and decide to move on and answer the posts of people with something interesting to say such as yourself and alsi the posts of people who although I may not have totally agreed with made good arguments in their favour and constructive critisism instead of stereotypical judgement. That's my moan over for today lol.

I think you did the right thing. There is nothing wrong with defending what you believe in. I would have done the same thing.

I do sometimes. Every once in a while though someone will say something so outrageous I just have to tell them what I think about it. I just don't like to deal with the onslot of negative comments you sometimes get when you disagree with other people's opinion.

I think that one of the neatest things about making comments online is that it is more comfortable to raise a differing opinion in a virtual setting than it might be if you encountered a group of strangers having the discussion face-to-face. That's why I try to take advantage of those sorts of debates on mylot and other internet communities. Even though it's not always comfortable to raise an objection or a different perspective, in the long run it makes the community stronger and fuller and more interesting for everybody.

I usually respond even if I see that the tone of the discussion doesn't agree with my opinion. Often I see that others are more apt to speak up after someone has taken the other side too. And I try to keep an open mind when reading opinions I disagree with. I won't say that I have changed any major opinions or beliefs as a result of MyLot, but I can often see why the other person feels how they do.

good for you. atleast you did it. and it felt so good, right? it's as if, you stressed out your point honestly and sincerely. good for you. as for me, there had been times when i already typed a few words to the response box. but i decided to erase it and not post my response at all. i feel like i might hurt the author of the discussion and i don't want to hurt anyone here. so, i just skip it instead even if i have something to really say. but there are times when i say what i wanna say even if i disagree with the topic. but i always try to be as polite as possible so that the author will not feel bad about my post.

I can't say as I blame you for being apprehensive at times. Myself I guess I have brass tacks or something I posted in topics about Non smoking and I am a smoker If they don't like my views so be it. My thoughts are there are 2 sides to every fence and not every one is raised to believe in the same manner Makes no matter what the topic is about. Shame they have to be condescending in repsonding though It just isn't right. HArd to takes at times but if I disagree with something I will argue that fact wendy

Writing in general, whether online or offline, is part of how I get to know myself better. Often in trying to explain my position on something, I've learned something about myself. In fact, there have been times when I've actually slightly changed my position on things over the course of examining it via writing. So generally if I see something I disagree with, I will respond initially as part of examining my own position. If the original poster or other posters are rude to me, I might or might not bother to respond again, based on whether I feel it's worth my time. I'm not a rude person, and if I feel I might become rude in a discussion, I would rather leave than do so, usually.

No , I haven't come across a discussion that I have hesitated to respond to yet . I feel that if one asks for our opinion then that is what I am going to give . One doesn't have to be rude about it to state how they feel on a certain issue and you never know when responding back they may bring up a good point that you never thought about before or you may do the same for then . Having a debate on any giving situation is a good way to find out how others feel and to be able to express yourself at the same time .

Most of the time I experience this. Not only with discussions that I disagree with, but with controversial discussions that don't seem to end because members keep on throwing in comment after comment, sometimes ending up in heated arguments and personal attacks just to show whose point is the best one. Just like you, when I feel I've made my point, I just stop there and move on to the next. I feel more comfortable being a peace with everyone and not making enemies here at mylot. I enjoy it too much and I don't want to deliberately or inadvertently hurt or offend anyone while responding to discussions.

I think that all of the discussions here help me grow.

If the discussion is of my interests whether if its negative or positive i will post a comment. Because i wana share my ideas. Thats what we're here for right? If i were to get a negative comments from mylot i dont mind. It means my discussion gives interest to other people. At least i wont get a zero response :)

I'm new here--just registered about an hour ago in fact--so I haven't seen too many questions. I believe though that I would respond, probably without hesitation, if it was a topic that I had a strong opinion about. I think you've done what so many fail to do when they respond to something they disagree with; you analyzed why you felt that way and learned something about yourself in the process, rather than just firing off a rant because you felt like it. Bravo!

I hesitate before I do post but if I believe in it strongly enough than I go ahead and post. It does not bother me if other responses are negative but the ones I think are unnessary are the ones that are condescending. There is no reason for people to be that way. This is a place where you are supposed to be able to voice your opinion and I do. You don't have to agree with a discussion and that doesn't make a person any more right or wrong. It just makes there opinion different than what the person in the discussion believes. That is what the world is all about. It would be a dull world if we all thought alike.

In real life I'm never hesitant to respond to a discussion whether I agree or not. Here on mylot it's very different. People tend to misunderstand and take things the wrong way so I'm very careful with what I say here...