> Well, your comment seemed a nitpicky objecting-to-everything-they-said
Well, yes, I guess I was objecting to everything they said. But not because they said it, but because it's a bunch of terrible arguments.
> and tiresomely missing the point at every turn.
Such as?
> From the initial pedantic "Please distinguish proof and evidence."
Well, except that it's probably not pedantic, as their argument probably hinges on that fallacious equivocation.
> Do you talk to your friends like that?
Arguing in public is not talking to your friends.
> It's already headmasterish and snarky.
Which invalidates the argument how?
> It's not clear what you're asking for.
If you think that I am misunderstanding your(/their) argument or you see a flaw in mine, I am asking for you to explain the error in my reasoning.
> But you move on after 5 words to dispatch the next offending sentence
The offense is something that you choose to see, not something I said.
> like they're a succession of pesky bad guys in a kung fu movie waiting to be swatted down by our hero.
Are they not?
> I don't think the comment you were replying to was a model of clarity; the quote is a paraphrase of a paraphrase of an argument in James' The Will To Believe. I'm familiar with that essay (not one of his most impressive) so maybe it was easier for me to hear what they were trying to say.
Well, I don't know that essay, so it's possible that I am completely missing the point, in which case, feel free to explain. But then again, I have heard arguments of that form more than once, and so far whenever I looked any closer, it boiled down to the same flaw in the reasoning.
> But "WTF?!" etc isn't helpful.
Helpful for what?
> Objecting to every sentence like that doesn't even begin to address what they were trying to say.
Well, OK, what were they trying to say, then?
> Anyway, all of this seems obvious, I think you know this, I'll stop here.
You think that is helpful?
> Your comment read like you didn't care about what they were trying to say, just to knock them out of the water with any available weapon, which you seem to think you had done.
So, my goal was to knock some person I don't know out of the water regardless what their argument was? I'm not sure that makes sense ...