How could I have done this better?

[Tom_Mazanec]

On this thread I purposely stated the optimistic end of my range of opinion on AGW, and it was still too extreme for the forum.
What tips do you have for any future debates I may have?
Do you have any answers to the people's arguments?
http://www.rhjunior.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5673

[Neven]

I can only access that forum by registering which I'm not going to do.

In general, I think you need to have a comprehensive world view that makes sense in all circumstances, because you can only explain something well if you understand it well. It can't all be doom and gloom, there has to be some light at the end of the tunnel. And you need to realise that you probably won't convince or change the minds of those you argue with, but you may point those that are lurking in the right direction (if your direction is the right one, that is).

[oren]

You could have avoided opening threads just for asking simple questions... 

[Pmt111500]

If it's a denier forum full with fiscally greedy republicans, and such, who want short lawns in their neighborhood I doubt you could have done anything. Not going to sign in on random forums.

[Tom_Mazanec]

Well, it is a denier forum (which was one reason I toned down the pessimism). I guess it was a lost cause, but I wanted to do better.
Thanks.

[Neven]

Well, it is a denier forum

In that case I'm definitely signing on there. How about copypasting some of the stuff you wrote here, and we'll tell you what you did wrong. 

[gerontocrat]

If it's a denier forum full with fiscally greedy republicans, and such, who want short lawns in their neighborhood I doubt you could have done anything. Not going to sign in on random forums.

There are days when I am tempted to go on one of those sites and post something just to spit in their eyes. Would do no good except to make me feel better.

[b_lumenkraft]

Not sure if you are a hero or a masochist Gerontocrat. 

[gerontocrat]

Not sure if you are a hero or a masochist Gerontocrat. 

Neither.

After all, what can these people who think they are masters of the universe do to me?
I am retired, with a pension just enough to live on. It is merely curiosity to see what happens next that keeps me extant.

A curious kind of freedom. How to use it?

[b_lumenkraft]

Great attitude there.

[Tom_Mazanec]

Well, perhaps I shouldn't have said forum, but they are certainly a denier community. It is actually devoted to a Furry web comic strip artist (very good strips, btw, which is why I am there), but most are Evangelical Fundamentalist Christians. For example, I once asked "What would the world be like if everyone had twice their IQ but still a Fallen Nature" and the first answer was that no one would fall for the evil Global Warming Hoax...that kind of stuff. I started the thread with a link to Ecosophia by John Michael Greer saying climate change activists are failing because they are "do as I say, not as I do" by doing things like flying all over the world. I thought that would be less controversial. Still ended up in a 8 page (20 posts per page) debate. Should I copy and paste this?

[Neven]

Maybe not all of it. 

[Tom_Mazanec]

The trouble with not posting all of it is that I am not Bob Newhart. You need all the comments to get the context. So I PMed Neven (it took 15 PMs if I counted right) and he can read it at his leisure and pick out what to post and edit out.
Or, of course, just delete the PMs if he wishes. 

[Neven]

It was too difficult to follow the discussions you copypasted in those PMs, because of formatting. So, I don't know what you could have done better, sorry.

I've stopped discussing with climate risk deniers a while ago. I now discuss with people who think they are serious about AGW, but aren't really. 

[Tom_Mazanec]

Thanks, neven.
The biggest talking point, IIRC, was the in-the-Seventies-they-said-we-would-be-in-an-ice-age-by-now one. When I tried to refute this, they almost called me a liar (which annoys me because I try very hard to be truthful). They also made a point of old estimates of temperature, CO2, etc. being all over the place.
I guess I was wasting the electrons with my effort over there. But it was not primarily a denier forum, and I thought some might be more reasonable, if I made an explicit topic on it. No such luck.