internet discussions: can they work?

I occasionally lurk around photo.nazi, despite the fact that I hate their policy, because occasionally good questions are asked and answers I can benefit from are provided. I can't provide any answers to people because I was banned by the rectal cavity who is the head of the head kicking over there. He is about as popular with me as the Kempeitai were in Korea.

Anyway, a thread came to my attention over there which exemplifies the difficulties of having any kind of intelligent discussion on the many internet forums. The thread started with a mis-guided but passionate fellow suggesting that ETTR was somehow a flawed system.

After presenting his evidence his reactions to reasonable critique of his experimental methodology and his conclusions descend into personal attacks and slurs which would any sane person would want to distance themselves from quite quickly. Would you ever want to work with or employ someone who makes personal attacks like the following as part of his defence of his work and dealing with criticism other have reasonably proposed:

Tell me, Andrew, have you stopped beating your favorite underaged male prostitute? A simple yes or no answer is fine.

pathetic ... not once does he address any of the points properly because he is already convinced he is right and has no interest in learning or developing.

So Photo.net despite its pretense of providing a groomed community with moderation to remove the wild west thugs that destroyed rec.photo (and other usenet discussions) is really only a thin sham for corporate fascism to ride roughshod over who they feel like "dragging out for a hanging" (without a trial) and not a place where people can engage in discussion and debate.

Just doesn't seem to be many places that you can engage in a reasonable discussion, present arguments rationally without finding this sort of crap.

sigh