I am a believer in freedom of speech, and especially in the freedom of expression of opinions that I detest (what else is freedom of speech good for anyway?). Furthermore, it is only words. They cannot hurt anyone beyond one's feelings, so what's the point of going all Spanish Inquisition on them? If a troll and its detractors want to start a flaming war, I say let them have their puerile fun; it's no skin of my back. Actually, it's usually a good sign for a forum if the local troll population starts to pay attention: it means the forum has achieved escape velocity and is now cruising happily above the event horizon (Prof. Hawking would probably have me crucified for mixing metaphores like that). Finally, when I "spar" on this forum, it's usually to get a point across or, sometimes, to apply a bit of (poor) socratic irony: on occasion things need to be said with brutal exaggeration to get noticed. I'm not saying I'm good at it, mind, just that I try...