I think I have personally gained more than I have lost
Me too, but everyone would claim this, no matter their actual results. :D
I don't surround myself with yes men.
Me either, yet again, everyone would claim this, right?
I'm speaking only on my own behalf here but I have been drawn to disagreement online perhaps to a fault
I wonder what the opportunity cost is, arguing with someone online in futility, or helping someone locally that appreciates it?
If someone had told me 25 years ago that such a thing were possible, I would've taken that person for a lunatic.
25 years later, most of the world still agrees with you ;D
But I agree that you have a valid point in that when you have to put with another person's company continously due to a lack of options, there will be times when you're going to have to tell them they're a dick and vice versa.
The internet makes it easy to walk away - reality doesn't. If it was so easy to walk away in society, I wonder if we would have ever progressed as a species at all.
then how are you going to bring that up constructively?
Perhaps it is their personality, as a friend, do you mention it, but accept it? Do you walk away if nothing changes? I know one person who is a dick and hasn't got any long-term friends - but is socially capable to make more. He is in his 50s and spends a lot of time with strangers - but often feels lonely. There is something valuable in having people who know you close. Perhaps the hardwiring is an extension of the family wiring to build the intimacy for a community.