"Haters"

This is the only message board I have ever been on where any time one poster disagrees with another they are immediately labelled a "hater". I'm sorry, but that has got to be one of the most idiotic things I have ever seen. Part of the fun of message boards is the exchange of opinions. On a boxing board, which is subjective by it's very nature, that's really all we have. We can quote stats on a fighter, and someone else can come back and show that those stats are skewed because they fought a low level of competition to pad the record. I have my opinions on fighters like De La Hoya, Trinidad, Big & Little K, Hopkins, Toney, Spinks, Judah, etc. Others on this board have opinions that widely differ from my own. Because the opinions don't jibe doesn't mean that we hate each other, or the fighter(s) we differ on. It just means we probably look for different things in a boxer. Some people admire De La Hoya because he uses a lot of movement and tends to land a lot of punches. I don't like him because he runs and punches in flurries, generally at the end of a round to steal it, and has no power whatsoever. That doesn't make me a hater of De La Hoya, it just means he doesn't fight in a style I admire. I think Toney is one of the best fighters in boxing right now. He constantly pesses the action, presents and excellent defense and can sometimes hit with great power. He fights through injury, and doesn't duck people. Some people on here think Toney is shit. He doesn't punch in high enough volume, isn't active enough and talks too much shit. I don't think that this hypothetical person hates Toney, though they may. I don't really care if they do. It doesn't lessen my enjoyment of watching Toney fight. We see the exact same fights, yet our perception of them is colored by what we look for in a fighter. If you want to prove a case for your boxer, explain what it is about them that makes you think differently about them than the person whose post you disagree with. That will make you seem more like a fan of the sport, and might actually make you sound like you honestly know something about the sport. That's what is referred to as "discussion", which might seem appropriate to some as this is a "discussion" forum. When all you do to make your point is call the opposition a "hater", you don't lend any weight to your argument and come off sounding like a petulant child. It also makes you sound something less than intelligent, since an intelligent person can usually back up their arguments. When someone who isn't a fan of boxing comes and looks at things like this, they go away with opinion of the majority in this country. That boxing is a brutal, barbaric sport only admired by the lower 5th percentile of the population. By arguing in an effective and adult manner, you can help change that opinion.