Have you ever changed your mind after arguing with someone on an online forum?

Lucan said:

Yes.

I used to argue in favour of the TV licence because I thought it financed quality BBC programmes without adverts. But now the BBC's quality has gone downhill, and with lengthy "adverts" for their own programs anyway, and having experienced misplaced harrassment from a TV licence enforcer, and after Jimmy Saville, and after their no-longer political neutrality, and my growing tendency to watch time-shifted recordings where I skip ads (and BBC trailers) anyway, I have come round to the prevailing view expressed on forums that the TV licence has had its day. So not just because of forum arguments, but they did count for something.

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The BBC has no more trailers than any other broadcaster, IMO they have fewer than most. Not sure what the problem is with telling people about things they may want to watch but may be unaware of, just shows what they are doing with their money. My only objection is when the dress it up as "news" and isnert a lengthy piece about eg tonight's Panorama in to all the main news programs (and possibly then do a trailer for it straight after).

IanD said:

The BBC has no more trailers than any other broadcaster, IMO they have fewer than most. Not sure what the problem is with telling people about things they may want to watch but may be unaware of, just shows what they are doing with their money. My only objection is when the dress it up as "news" and isnert a lengthy piece about eg tonight's Panorama in to all the main news programs (and possibly then do a trailer for it straight after).

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They now at least do have the same "news" about programmes on other channels.

I've changed my mind about a few things on this Forum, mainly because of people working at the coal face explaining that things are more complicated than they first appear - e.g. if someone suggests improving one apparent bottleneck then someone in the Industry may come along and point out that this would only push the problem slightly further along the line and may even make things worse.

To give two examples, a few years ago I was anti-HS2 and very pro-electrification.

Since then, I've accepted HS2 (mainly because of the lack of reasonable alternatives that would actually solve the real problems).

I've come to realise that (for whatever reasons) electrification is more complicated/ more expensive/ slower than we believed it would be, which calls into question how much of a solution it ought to be (great if it works but if it costs twice as much and takes twice as long to deliver then there comes a point where you have to accept that it isn't worth suggesting electrifying a route because advances in bi-modes are more attractive).

Certain posters on here have been very good at informing me sufficiently to change my mind - I see it as a good thing - am certainly not embarrassed about admitting to differing opinions - the railway is a flexible beast and it'd be odd to retain the same unchanging opinions on subjects as evidence shows how things work (or don't!).

What surprises me is the people who retain all of the attitudes that they had a decade ago - when the facts change, I change my mind.

tbtc said:

What surprises me is the people who retain all of the attitudes that they had a decade ago - when the facts change, I change my mind.

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Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn have a lot in common. As well as both wearing blinkers 24 hours a day, neither has probably really changed their mind on anything significant, ever. Hence the total complete mess the country is in, which can only get worse!

Busaholic said:

Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn have a lot in common. As well as both wearing blinkers 24 hours a day, neither has probably really changed their mind on anything significant, ever. Hence the total complete mess the country is in, which can only get worse!

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Quite, Jeremy Corbyn starting that he won't come to the table until no deal is no longer an option is working at it the wrong way around.

I would suggest that saying "I'll attend to discuss all options other than no deal" would likely result in a better outcome.

However I feel that no-one has an answer and so he's probably using it to get out from having to say that he has no plan.

Of course I'd be happy to discuss matters and listen to other views.

Busaholic said:

Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn have a lot in common. As well as both wearing blinkers 24 hours a day, neither has probably really changed their mind on anything significant, ever. Hence the total complete mess the country is in, which can only get worse!

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I completely agree - sadly we live in a world where people take a stubborn refusal to adapt your thinking as a Badge Of Honour, people confuse ignorance with "authenticity".

For example, in Corbyn's case, I'd have agreed with him a generation ago that railway privatisation was A Bad Thing. But as we learn more about it, I've come to accept that things like nationalisation/privatisation/ ownership are just means to an end, and the more important thing is how well the structure delivers a good railway (e.g. I'm not a huge fan of some private companies but if they left the industry then we'd be wholly at the mercy of Chris Grayling, the DfT and the untamed Network Rail, so be careful what you wish for!).

Same with electrification, I guess - I saw it once as a good thing in its own right, now I've adapted to seeing it as one tool in the box (sometimes it's the best tool but sometimes it's a complicated/ expensive/ time consuming way to improve things).

I want to live in a country where we have a plurality of views and listen to experts (rather than an echo chamber), I want to live in a country where changing your mind is a positive thing and people are happy to admit that they have learnt new lessons (rather than the Corbyn world where our beliefs are formed as teenagers and we never evolve).

To take your own circumstances into account (living in Cornwall IIRC?), I'm happy to come on here and listen to the opinions of people living in Cornwall about how we improve public transport in Cornwall. Too many people only experience it in terms of getting the train from Paddington at the start of the school holidays, the peak tourist season, they have an idea of Cornwall that involves long distance trains requiring lots of luggage space. But for people living there fifty two weeks a year, the picture will be different, the through trains to Manchester/ Newcastle/ Edinburgh may be less important than something "ordinary" like finding sufficient 150s to provide a half hourly service into Devon. I'm here to learn, and that means listening to people who use railway lines regularly (over people who use them once a year at the busiest time of year and therefore have a skewed view).

tbtc said:

I want to live in a country where we have a plurality of views and listen to experts (rather than an echo chamber), I want to live in a country where changing your mind is a positive thing and people are happy to admit that they have learnt new lessons (rather than the Corbyn world where our beliefs are formed as teenagers and we never evolve).

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If you leave Corbyn specifically out of this, then I agree completely.

There is one particular very long-running thread on this website.....the Vivarail 230 "old pans for new" pantomime thread.....where my views have remained totally and utterly unchanged since "day 1" despite involving myself in posting skirmishes every year since then with a number of other website members who are prone to use words like "innovation" to convince me to take a more charitable approach to this project rather than my "hard-nosed business and finance approach".