A long time ago I was a regular here at America's Debate. I would get aggravated at times when I'd read posts that seemed to be written to harm rather than inform, but for a long time I took it in stride. Generally speaking, you cannot have political discussions without "heat" (though you can control the temperature). The very passion that drives someone to keep up with and try to "fix" the political arena also has a tendency to fuel their responses, occasionally "over-heating" them. It is easy to let comments you perceive to be designed to insult, offend you. It is hard, to give someone the benefit of the doubt and even harder to just accept this as passion about the issue and not directed at you personally.

I let a few comments here and there get under my skin awhile back. They festered. I found myself getting increasingly frustrated and angry here as it began to seem like more and more people were getting hostile. Eventually, I called it quits and stopped participating on this site all together. Looking back now I realize that most of what I let get to me had little (if anything) to do with me and certainly was not targeted at me personally. I let my own passion supersede my reason and as a result, I started to take the passion of others to heart which was likely not the intent of 99.99% of them.

Remember that for the most part, people who are passionate about the world around them are the people you are talking to here. Though different people have different approaches and opinions on how to do it, to a person the people posting on AD want to change the world for the better and believe they know how to do it. We all have common ground here. We all play the "if only the government worked this way" game in our heads and we all passionately believe that we have the solutions to the ills of the world if only the powers-that-be would listen to us. Believe it or not, those qualities make everyone here an exceptional citizens regardless of which side of which political fence they happen to be on.

When you are among passionate people, verbal conflicts are going to happen. Instead of taking them personally and letting them eventually lead you to a course of action you'll regret later, take a deep breath. Remember that the person you are so angry at right now is simply a passionate person like yourself who merely thinks differently than you do. Relax and set about to respond in a way that best illustrates your position and why you feel yours is the better approach without letting your passions rule you into hostile phrasing. The debate will be better for it, AD will be better for it, and so will you.