When do you decided you won an argument?

[MrMixelPixel]

When the person says "You have fixed my ignorance sir! Thank you very much." I don't get that too often.

 

[crudus]

When the person invokes Hitler or the Nazis.

You mean <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law>Godwin's Law?

Never. The person I am arguing with needs to decide if I have won or not. If they just repeat themselves or use various logical fallacies, I call them out on it and wait for them to correct their mistake. Nothing changed if the debate breaks down into screaming or what have you and therefore there can be no winners. If it is a debate for the sake of debate there are no winners.

Wow! We just posted at the exact same time and said roughly the same thing, contrary to everyone else who has posted so far. What are the odds?

I couldn't tell you, but it is always nice to see my opinions validated.

When others generally agree with me. For example, I feel that I lost an argument over whether you can divide by zero in basic math, myself believing that you can't. I felt that I was right, and I still do, but everyone else was convinced that I was wrong.

Next time say "There exists no such real number such that 0*n=1". That is literally the reason why you can't divide by zero.

 

[ntw3001]

I win at the beginning, by being right in the first place. It's a really good trick for that kind of situation.

 

[marurder]

When a person does nothing but attack the character/intelligence/personal qualities of the opponent.

 

[Xok]

Whenever they change the subject

 

[soulfire130]

When your opponent ignores everything you say and just repeats themselves or parrot shit they've read somewhere, you've won.
You may not have convinced anyone of anything, but you're the one that still has intellectual integrity.

Pretty much this and when they start declaring that they won even though they never moved forward in the argument.

 

[Hatter]

I don't bother arguing unless I already know that I'm right.
But that's like saying I don't play chess unless I know I'll win, I don't win until I actually win so, when my victim starts pulling random stuff out of the blue that has nothing to do with what we are talking about or when they start going back on what they've already said is usually when I start wrapping things up.

For instance, I was arguing with someone on the interweb who had just joined the army. He was being disrespectful to some people so I called him out on it and well... I'll just post what he said verbatim:

"Oh and,i love how you think your like a ******* nastradamus, truth is I ****** more girls then you ever seen in your life, and if you ever saw me one and one and tried to insult me i bet you that you would be holding your teeth in your hands, and if I decide to call this a forum... THEN ITS A ****** FORUM YOU LITTLE C0CK ******. (--It wasn't a forum btw---) Telling me to grow up ***** im 19 years old meet me anywhere in chicago and ill show you whose "grown up" stupid ignorant cock sucker. What are you gonna say now? huh you piece of ****? Ill send you a message when I pass osut so u can come over and lick my balls, I pt 4 times a week with the recruits(sometimes im squad leader) I go to ballys 3 times a week(im physically fit and can bench 225) nothing you say to me is important because the truth is your not better then me, and I know it ive earned my promotion to e2 by doing 53 push ups in 2 min, 63 situps in 2 min, and 2 mile run in less then 18... so F.U.C.K YOU SUCK ON MY BALLS!"

All that just because I was trying to convince him that he should be more respectful towards service members who aren't in the infantry.

Anyway after all that I accepted that I was the victor and parted ways with him.

 

[Gladiateher]

The only way you can win an argument is if the other person admits you were right and apologizes, or says "oh, well I didn't know that". Otherwise it was just a stalemate. If they keep repeating their same points than nothing you say will ever convince them and no one has won.

 

[zombiekiller1907]

have you seen that monty python sketch "argument clinic"?

 

[badgersprite]

There are no winners. Anyone who's that insecure about what someone else thinks that they have to keep engaging people in arguments until they have some arbitrary sense of victory (usually because the other person doesn't give enough of a fuck to argue back) that gives them a smug sense of superiority is already a loser.

99% of the time, I just don't care enough about what people think to argue. Even if I happen to disagree with their point, so what? Is the fact that they believe something I think is wrong going to have any impact on the world or on me personally? No.

The only way you can win an argument is if the other person admits you were right and apologizes, or says "oh, well I didn't know that". Otherwise it was just a stalemate. If they keep repeating their same points than nothing you say will ever convince them and no one has won.

This is also a good point.

 

[ShindoL Shill]

Right before the argument starts.

i'm going to go with this. most arguments i get into are because someone else cannot accept they are wrong.
either that, or when they bring up 'opinions'. if you argue with 'opinions' as a key point, you havent got a solid point.

 

[Trivun]

Depends on who I'm arguing with and what the argument is about. Usually though, it tends to be something like when my opponent is pulling random stuff from their ass to 'prove' their point, or when they keep repeating their last argument, or when they keep trying to ignore my careful deconstruction of their main points. If I am actually right, and I can prove that, then yeah, I've won it by sheer fact that I have the correct point, and nothing they say is going to change that.

 

[Nexus4]

When the other person just tries to insult you and your argument. They have run out of reasons to support their own points and carry out a vain attempt at discrediting your points. This is also known as politics.