• magnetosphere@kbin.social
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    8 months ago

    When I’m not sure, I just give them the benefit of the doubt. For example, there’s a good chance that the person replying to me speaks English well, but it’s not their first language. Also, their cultural norms might be very different from my own. It could be a simple misunderstanding, too. Overreacting would just make things worse.

    When it’s obvious that the person replying is just being a pedantic nuisance, though, I merely stop responding. They may think they’ve “won”, but so what? I can go to bed knowing I don’t waste my time sealioning.

    • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      They may think they’ve “won”, but so what?

      The point of internet arguments is not to convince your opponent. That never happens.

      The point is to convince the audience, and if you just leave then it looks like the sealion is right.

        • samus12345@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Depends. If it’s a subject I feel strongly about I’ll go down the whole damn chain upvoting and downvoting as applicable.

          • Sotuanduso@lemm.ee
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            8 months ago

            Addendum: when a comment chain goes on long enough in both length and time since the original post, there is no more audience.

          • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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            8 months ago

            At which point the sea lioning has been obvious. You’re not going to see the person you disagree with getting the “last word” and think they “won”.

            • samus12345@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              Nah. It almost always devolves into one person making an effort while the other’s just being an ass.

      • Leeker@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        The point of internet arguments is not to convince your opponent. That never happens.

        Why do you think that is?

    • livus@kbin.social
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      8 months ago

      The thing is a true sealion only “wins” by dragging you into a long offtopic comment chain.

      Professional sealions (we don’t have them here yet thank god) come armed with a list of “talking points” they use to try to derail genuine conversations and turn them into something else.

      • magnetosphere@kbin.social
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        8 months ago

        Damn, that’s sad. I have nothing but pity for anyone who considers themselves a “true” or “professional” sea lion.

        • livus@kbin.social
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          8 months ago

          Eh, they get paid.

          I’m talking about the 50 Cent-ers, the BJP IT, the Hasbara trolls, the Russian troll army, the Indonesian troll army etc etc etc.

          Not sure what they conceptualize it as but they do tend to sealion.

          Pretty sure Zucc has one as well, and that dodgy remote work company that advertises on Reddit definitely employs a couple of people.

    • daltotron@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      They may think they’ve “won”, but so what?

      Yeah, I think this is kind of the correct mentality. The currency of trolls is (you)s, you should only feed trolls if they’re giving you something actually interesting or novel or amusing in return, rather than getting baited, or giving up and ignoring it altogether. I think it’s important for people to reward comments that they like with thought-out responses, rather than the other way around.