AOG and I have been debate adversaries for quite some time now.
We usually manage to exchange our views in the manner of mature adults, but both have on occasions got a little 'emotional' and a couple of 'cyber-handbags' exchanges have occured, usually solved quickly with the main protagonist apologising, and hostilities ceased.
i appreciate that AOG is extremely robust in his defence of his views, and that his Questions often attract contentious opinions and responses - that said -
it is totally against the spirit and ethos of the AB to indulge in personal upbraiding of anyone, by anyone, and provocative exchanges only tend to detract from the initial Question and lead people to form opinion-cliques, which are not good for a site like ours.
If you enjoy sparring with AOG - and i do, and I think he does - then by all means fight your corner, but with respect and dignity and an absence of personal invective.
If however, you find his irrasible obervations provoke you into unseemly taunting and insults, then exercise your right to simply look elsewhere on the AB for a debate more to your liking - and there are plenty of sections to choose from.
I am fully aware that AOG needs no-one to fight his battles for him, but I feel I must speak up in the interests of the AB as a whole, and the atmosphere between all of us, which must be maintained at cordial levels, for the good of us all.
It also prevents the Ed. from having to step in and referee, which can lead to bannings, and no-one wants or needs that.
The AB's raison d'etre is the quest for information, the supply of information, and the debate around issues of the day. That will always lead to diagreements, which is fine, but not to rudeness, which is not.
OK - 'lecture' over, I'm off for a cuppa and a sit-down.