CARNOSAUR - I agree whole-heartedly with your assessment. However, becoming irate over a topic as subjective as paleontology is anathema to the process of debate. Anger within the course of expounding portrays an existing agenda that can do only one thing to healthy discourse, poison it. What good does it do to show aggression in the midst of conversation? None. Such reaction serves only to break down the chain of dialogue into a meaningless quibble. Behaving in such a manner completely destroys any credibility you've established within the context of the subject in question and results in others choosing - more often than not - to avoid you in favor of more polite conversation. Thus, we move into the process of alienation and the sort of social discord that arises from its inception. If in the process of extolling a notion, one must always remember to leave room for other possibilities and place emotion firmly where it belongs, away from the established dialogue. Responding to a notion that goes against what you hold as truth with anger or resentment is the root to the vast majority of the problems that have plagued mankind since he arose upon this world. Only through introspection and intellectual honesty can we move beyond petty and menial arguments in favor of stimulating conversation that breeds new ideas and ways of thinking. To do otherwise is to stagnate - a process that undermines everything one has toiled to achieve.
Regardless of everything I've hitherto stated, I'll be the first to champion your statement that we might as well get along here! Wiser words have rarely been spoken, and I thank you ever so much for having presented them! :)
