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Re:How to win an online argument: lessons from Reddit by Joeboy on Tuesday February 16, 2016 @11:17AM (#11110843)
This assumes that the sole goal of an online argument is to a) change the view of an individual and b) get them to publicly admit that that's happened. That's an unlikely outcome of an online argument, or indeed any argument. What you might more realistically achieve is getting third parties to see your position as the preferred one, or getting the individual to rethink their position in private, or at least be more reluctant to state it in public.
Re:How to win an online argument: lessons from Reddit by CWuestefeld on Tuesday February 16, 2016 @11:26AM (#11110919)
Online "arguments" only wear the guise of debate. In fact, their primary purpose is for the participants to signal membership and loyalty within their in-group
Re:How to win an online argument: lessons from Reddit by sliverstorm on Tuesday February 16, 2016 @11:27AM (#11110935)
Well, getting them to change their views AND publicly admit them is certainly the greatest form of "winning" the argument, so maybe you could say it's the stretch goal of every argument.
Re:How to win an online argument: lessons from Reddit by ASpring on Tuesday February 16, 2016 @12:43PM (#11111640)
It's not an assumption given that the study examines a corpus of posts from reddit's /r/changemyview which has the explicit stated purpose of both your points a and b.
Re:How to win an online argument: lessons from Reddit by raldi on Tuesday February 16, 2016 @11:37AM (#11111030)
Or you might encourage silent like-minded individuals to be more willing to speak out, once they see you doing it successfully.