I remember all those decades ago, being a very eager teenager, wanting anything to do with airplanes. I would go and hang around King City airport, and then Maple when King closed, and then Brampton, when maple had closed. I remember being in awe, being allowed within the periphery of discussions about flying Champs and Cherokees, Cubs and Skyhawks. That was where I learned first. In hindsight, some of what I learned became "note to self, don't do what he said he did", but I learned.

But I also learned that these skygods, however they had done it, flew and owned planes - my dream. They chatted amongst themselves, and allowed me to be a quiet observer, but many had little patience for a disagreeable presence. Some were more willing than others to entertain a dumb question, but I learned that none of them were willing to put up with a nuisance person. If I wanted to be included, I had to behave well, learn effectively, and covey that I was appreciative of the inclusion.

It worked. Through my training, and after, I made many life long pilot friends, did some great flying, and had some truly awesome aviation experiences. Hundreds of hours of flying opportunity, and in some unusual types, traces back directly to my forging a good relationship with those who had "made it" in general aviation.

Now, more than 4 decades on, the roles are reversed. I have the experience, I own the planes, I am willing to share with the newcomers. I don't hang around the clubhouse the way I used to, it's just too far a flight to be spontaneous, but I do participate here instead, trying to share. I have certainly forged some great friendships here and that makes it all worthwhile. But the few truly nuisance posters, who cannot bring themselves to accept information provided in response to their inquiry are the dark, dusty corner of the clubhouse, which I will surely avoid. Yes, the internet affords some anonymity, but if you're a nuisance, people will remember, and not want to include you, be it in the clubhouse of real people, or the world of internet chat.....

The thing about an internet forum though is that unlike when you are stuck in the clubhouse with a loudmouth, there's no need to read what an annoying person has read. There are many posters on here that I automatically skip because their contributions simply aren't sensical. If two of these people start answering each other, there is not likely to be any more useful discussion so I don't even need to check that topic anymore as anything intrtesting has probably already been conveyed.

If you are unable or unwilling to ignore the train wreck posters, I would encourage everyone to read the posting rules and if a thread is going downhill with misbehavors, report the posts in question. This will bring it to a moderstor's attention even if no mods are reading that particular topic.

This is a fair perspective, but let me offer a counterpoint.

If you're chatting around the clubhouse, your conversations are essentially private. This is not true of internet forums. There is an audience, and that audience likely includes people with a genuine desire to learn. This means that trolls and other types of useless posters need to be countered. If they aren't, their comments stand unopposed, and readers/learners may be lead to believe that the comments are reasonable (nobody is arguing, so everything must be OK).

In other words, you don't argue with trolls to win the argument or to convince the troll. You argue with trolls to offer a reasonable/factual/rational counterpoint to other readers who want to learn but lack the background to argue for themselves.

Yes Steve, I entirely agree with what you have said. Hopefully arguing with trolls becomes less, or not necessary, because people behave the way they would like to be treated!