any given discussion whether or not "we all go home with the opinion that we came in with"...

Some of us occasionally learn new things that radically change our views on stuff... Sometimes all that happens is we gain a new perspective on a topic that we'd never considered before... or on an individual where there's another side that we'd never seen before... Nearly always, there's at least one important point made by someone on something that makes it worth the bother of reading through more slop than poetry...

However, LYS, by and large, a lot of people don't come to discussion boards to discuss, but to ARGUE... and if one is only hanging around to argue, then absolutely, they'll learn & realize NOTHING new under the sun... So expecting differently is an exercise in futility and trying to POUND it in to others who are unwilling to hear it for whatever reason is only annoying as hell to everyone else...

So, it's important to distinguish between the two groups... Those who are interested in actual conversation and those who just enjoy pounding...