Your post very much reminds me of the usual atmosphere in slashdot-like discussion forums (for Germans e.g. the comments at heise.de), and of course some newsgroups.

It seems that we have developed a culture where it is of the utmost importance to convice others that you are right, and to utterly eradicate anything that seems wrong to you. I can see it in religious flamewars (x vs. y), which for me embody the very definition of "religious". I can see it in phenomenons like "...she's a flight risk.": If you don't believe it, you can just treat it as a nice story. However, many people opt to bash anyone that "believes this bullshit" and "lies to me". Why? I am shocked at how much time people are willing to spend to abuse others and to defend their own opinions. I don't get what kind of benefit this is going to give you. There is so much bullshit in the world, you can't fight all of it.

Curiously enough, I have been tempted to jump in myself a few times when someone posted blatant bullshit and I knew the facts to be very different. But I found a trick that so far worked for me in 100% of these temptations: I go away and do something different. After five minutes, I find it's not worth posting anymore. Neither the original post, nor my reply, are going to change the world. Shutting of the computer and making pancakes will, though. Or at least they will taste nice.

There is so much bullshit in the world, you can't fight all of it.

I sometimes wonder at what point did "it's too hard" became an excuse for not trying to make the world a better place.

Sure, you're not going to make a huge difference by posting perceived improvements on a Perl forum, but since when does that mean you shouldn't even try?

I certainly hope that if you're criticizing such efforts, you're contributing in what you view as a more constructive manner. Sadly, statistics would indicate you aren't.

Hope I didn't just waste 49 seconds of my time :)

Note: Please read through first.

But fighting the bullshit won't make it go away. If there is any infinitely replenishable resource, it's idiots. Your energy is much better spent contributing constructively in some way (write code, file bugs, translate documentation, answer user questions, or whichever other of the myriad activities a project requires, or any combination thereof). Trying to flame sense into clueless thickheaded know-it-alls (sorry I'm using such language; you really have to experience the atmosphere at the heise forums, Slashdot is civil in comparison) isn't going to help anyone - not even the clueless thickheaded know-it-alls. All you can do is spend your time on something actually worthwhile and hope for some personal growth experience for the idiots.

Note that when I'm referring to someone as an idiot, I'm referring to attitude rather than (as I said elsewhere in this thread) any lack of skill or experience. I also very rarely do it at their face - or to anyone else behind their back for that matter. Usually, I try to be helpful, and just ignore them and move on if my attempts remain fruitless.

Arguing only gets you so far, and flaming is entirely wasted time.

Makeshifts last the longest.

"Your post very much reminds me of the usual atmosphere in slashdot-like discussion forums ..."

You're actually referring to the coments in the root node and not those of the reply your post is attached to?

No, I was really referring to the above post, e.g. treating others with dignity.