Is it human nature to disagree just for the sake of disagreeing?

[CelticConcourse]

Why does it keep happening to me...

Perhaps I just like debates. 

Whenever I'm on a forum, I get this urge to make lots of posts and disagree on every thread even if I agree. Do I just not like threads where everyone agrees? Have there ever been any threads on this forum where there have been no disagreements? I'm curious.

Talk to me, please Cures, if possible.

[Eja117]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzOBlPKZjxE

nyet

[Evantime34]

Why does it keep happening to me...

Perhaps I just like debates. 

Whenever I'm on a forum, I get this urge to make lots of posts and disagree on every thread even if I agree. Do I just not like threads where everyone agrees? Have there ever been any threads on this forum where there have been no disagreements? I'm curious.

Talk to me, please Cures, if possible.

NO YOU ARE WRONG! haha

I agree with you, I sometimes take the opposite position just for the sake of opposition. Doing so improves your knowledge of basketball (through research), improves your writing and improves you argumentation skills.

Also people prone to writing on message boards happen to be the type of people that like to argue.

[Celtics18]

I tend to disagree a lot, but that's just because most other people are generally wrong. 

[syfy9]

Why does it keep happening to me...

Perhaps I just like debates. 

Whenever I'm on a forum, I get this urge to make lots of posts and disagree on every thread even if I agree. Do I just not like threads where everyone agrees? Have there ever been any threads on this forum where there have been no disagreements? I'm curious.

Talk to me, please Cures, if possible.

I disagree. 

[Tgro]

The answer to this is Doc Rivers.

[Kiorrik]

Why does it keep happening to me...

Perhaps I just like debates. 

Whenever I'm on a forum, I get this urge to make lots of posts and disagree on every thread even if I agree. Do I just not like threads where everyone agrees? Have there ever been any threads on this forum where there have been no disagreements? I'm curious.

Talk to me, please Cures, if possible.

Alright, bear with me here, I'm going to use Dungeons and Dragons to explain my view on this, so it'll get nasty in a hurry.

In D&D, characters actions are based on their alignment. This alignment consists of two axis; ones adherence to rules, and ones sense of right and wrong.

The former is divided Chaotic, Neutral and Lawful, the latter consists of Good, Neutral and Evil. So for example, if you're chaotic good, you don't care much about rules, but do the right thing all the time. That's a bit like the rebels in Star Wars. The empire being Lawful Evil. Another example could be a thief who steals only from the rich. He might not adhere to the rules much, but would never stoop so low as to physically hurt someone, so he could be chaotic neutral; not caring about rules, but being out for mainly himself.

The point where these two axis cross, "neutral neutral", is called "true neutral", and they explain that position as follows;
Either:
- someone who won't go out of his way to do either something good or something bad, and tries to stick by the rules but doesn't really mind if he actually /has/ to.
Or:
- someone who takes the side of whomever is the underdog in a certain situation, to maintain a certain balance in the world.

This could relate to personalities in discussions just as easily. You might be someone who's trolling, tiptoeing the rules on the site, Lawful Evil. You might be posting links to phishing sites or illegal streams, Chaotic Evil. Or you might be a mod that likes to cuss a bit here and there himself, Chaotic Good. Or someone who likes to read, True Neutral.

Or you might be picking the side of whatever is the least represented opinion. True neutral.

There you go. That's about as nerdy as it gets folks!

[Fan from VT]

Why does it keep happening to me...

Perhaps I just like debates. 

Whenever I'm on a forum, I get this urge to make lots of posts and disagree on every thread even if I agree. Do I just not like threads where everyone agrees? Have there ever been any threads on this forum where there have been no disagreements? I'm curious.

Talk to me, please Cures, if possible.

Alright, bear with me here, I'm going to use Dungeons and Dragons to explain my view on this, so it'll get nasty in a hurry.

In D&D, characters actions are based on their alignment. This alignment consists of two axis; ones adherence to rules, and ones sense of right and wrong.

The former is divided Chaotic, Neutral and Lawful, the latter consists of Good, Neutral and Evil. So for example, if you're chaotic good, you don't care much about rules, but do the right thing all the time. That's a bit like the rebels in Star Wars. The empire being Lawful Evil. Another example could be a thief who steals only from the rich. He might not adhere to the rules much, but would never stoop so low as to physically hurt someone, so he could be chaotic neutral; not caring about rules, but being out for mainly himself.

The point where these two axis cross, "neutral neutral", is called "true neutral", and they explain that position as follows;
Either:
- someone who won't go out of his way to do either something good or something bad, and tries to stick by the rules but doesn't really mind if he actually /has/ to.
Or:
- someone who takes the side of whomever is the underdog in a certain situation, to maintain a certain balance in the world.

This could relate to personalities in discussions just as easily. You might be someone who's trolling, tiptoeing the rules on the site, Lawful Evil. You might be posting links to phishing sites or illegal streams, Chaotic Evil. Or you might be a mod that likes to cuss a bit here and there himself, Chaotic Good. Or someone who likes to read, True Neutral.

Or you might be picking the side of whatever is the least represented opinion. True neutral.

There you go. That's about as nerdy as it gets folks!

[Slow clap]

Fantastic.

[Celtics18]

Why does it keep happening to me...

Perhaps I just like debates. 

Whenever I'm on a forum, I get this urge to make lots of posts and disagree on every thread even if I agree. Do I just not like threads where everyone agrees? Have there ever been any threads on this forum where there have been no disagreements? I'm curious.

Talk to me, please Cures, if possible.

Alright, bear with me here, I'm going to use Dungeons and Dragons to explain my view on this, so it'll get nasty in a hurry.

In D&D, characters actions are based on their alignment. This alignment consists of two axis; ones adherence to rules, and ones sense of right and wrong.

The former is divided Chaotic, Neutral and Lawful, the latter consists of Good, Neutral and Evil. So for example, if you're chaotic good, you don't care much about rules, but do the right thing all the time. That's a bit like the rebels in Star Wars. The empire being Lawful Evil. Another example could be a thief who steals only from the rich. He might not adhere to the rules much, but would never stoop so low as to physically hurt someone, so he could be chaotic neutral; not caring about rules, but being out for mainly himself.

The point where these two axis cross, "neutral neutral", is called "true neutral", and they explain that position as follows;
Either:
- someone who won't go out of his way to do either something good or something bad, and tries to stick by the rules but doesn't really mind if he actually /has/ to.
Or:
- someone who takes the side of whomever is the underdog in a certain situation, to maintain a certain balance in the world.

This could relate to personalities in discussions just as easily. You might be someone who's trolling, tiptoeing the rules on the site, Lawful Evil. You might be posting links to phishing sites or illegal streams, Chaotic Evil. Or you might be a mod that likes to cuss a bit here and there himself, Chaotic Good. Or someone who likes to read, True Neutral.

Or you might be picking the side of whatever is the least represented opinion. True neutral.

There you go. That's about as nerdy as it gets folks!

You get a Nerd Point.

[Timdawgg]

Why does it keep happening to me...

Perhaps I just like debates. 

Whenever I'm on a forum, I get this urge to make lots of posts and disagree on every thread even if I agree. Do I just not like threads where everyone agrees? Have there ever been any threads on this forum where there have been no disagreements? I'm curious.

Talk to me, please Cures, if possible.

Alright, bear with me here, I'm going to use Dungeons and Dragons to explain my view on this, so it'll get nasty in a hurry.

In D&D, characters actions are based on their alignment. This alignment consists of two axis; ones adherence to rules, and ones sense of right and wrong.

The former is divided Chaotic, Neutral and Lawful, the latter consists of Good, Neutral and Evil. So for example, if you're chaotic good, you don't care much about rules, but do the right thing all the time. That's a bit like the rebels in Star Wars. The empire being Lawful Evil. Another example could be a thief who steals only from the rich. He might not adhere to the rules much, but would never stoop so low as to physically hurt someone, so he could be chaotic neutral; not caring about rules, but being out for mainly himself.

The point where these two axis cross, "neutral neutral", is called "true neutral", and they explain that position as follows;
Either:
- someone who won't go out of his way to do either something good or something bad, and tries to stick by the rules but doesn't really mind if he actually /has/ to.
Or:
- someone who takes the side of whomever is the underdog in a certain situation, to maintain a certain balance in the world.

This could relate to personalities in discussions just as easily. You might be someone who's trolling, tiptoeing the rules on the site, Lawful Evil. You might be posting links to phishing sites or illegal streams, Chaotic Evil. Or you might be a mod that likes to cuss a bit here and there himself, Chaotic Good. Or someone who likes to read, True Neutral.

Or you might be picking the side of whatever is the least represented opinion. True neutral.

There you go. That's about as nerdy as it gets folks!

Perfect Analogy + 1

[indeedproceed]

Kiorrik's example is just awesome. I'd give him a tommy point, but if I did Tommy would give me a wedgie and call me a nerd.

But to the OP my answer is two-fold:

 1) people who post (read:  not lurkers, or sporadic posters, i mean people who say something even if they don't bring anything new the the conversation) generally just like the interaction, and the sound of their own voice. See: me, and you. You, the guy reading this post about to post your own opinion. You, right now. Put down that bag of BBQ curly fritos, you're going to get red all over the keyboard.

And when we love the interaction, when we love the sound of our own voice, eventually we realize that actual debate is the equivalent of real, genuine, 1980's NYC crack for our egos.

It doesn't mean we're bad people, or trolls, or even intolerable nusances, but it is, as the tired cliche goes, what it is. We love the validation.

2) for the OP, and I know this sounds condescending, but that's not my intention, so allow me to relate this back to myself; when I was in my mid to late teens I thought everything I said was full of insight, and witty (where applicable) or sage-like beyond my years. Cuz I was 16, and 16 year olds are terrible. Wait til you get to college and you're at some frat mixer and someone brings up religion. It'll be like heaven and hell had a conversation baby at 2am in the morning. When you roll out of your cot-like bed in your dorm and look into your phone and wonder who 'Grady' is and why you have his number, think of this comment.

[ACF]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hnTmBjk-M0c

[Celtics4ever]

There are things that I am sure we could find consensus on.

Example: Terrorism is bad.

Internet makes people braver and it's easier to disagree for most there because you don't have to worry about eating a knuckle sandwich with a post.   

But think about it humans have had society since what 10,000 BC and there have always been disagreements since then and wars galore.   Some conflict is in our nature defined by our interests and passions.  Look at the number of Churches, all sprang from early Christianity yet of lot of them formed with slight variations in their beliefs.  Some of them have common beliefs but some of them condemn each other even though they have common origin.  Now not all are this way but there were disagreements at points that caused different denominations to splinter forth.    The same could be said of Islam but there are 2 splits there primarily.   These are but a few historical examples but I think one can argue that people see the world differently and will debate or have conflict from time to time.

Another thing most can agree on here:   We are Celtic fans.

[BballTim]

Why does it keep happening to me...

Perhaps I just like debates. 

Whenever I'm on a forum, I get this urge to make lots of posts and disagree on every thread even if I agree. Do I just not like threads where everyone agrees? Have there ever been any threads on this forum where there have been no disagreements? I'm curious.

Talk to me, please Cures, if possible.

  One possible cure would be less caffeine.

[Roy H.]

There are things that I am sure we could find consensus on.

Example: Terrorism is bad.

Doubtful.  In the marathon bombing thread, there were folks defending the terrorists and blaming American society.

In terms of disagreeing just for the sake of it, there are two methods of that.  The first is to play devil's advocate, where you're exploring an argument to learn more about all sides.  The second is to just be a jerk.