if someone is wrong on the internet, they are wrong for a reason. that reason might be
- they want to be wrong, in which case a stranger won't make them want to be right
- they just don't really give a shit, in which case a stranger won't make them care enough to be right
- they are missing one argument or piece of information, which if it were well-presented might help them become right
in my experience, strangers on the internet (especially on Twitter) are more likely to be wrong out of malice or apathy than out of ignorance, and I am only intermittently good at expressing facts and arguments in a way that someone else might find persuasive.
the key principle is that just as they are some random jackass to me, I am just some random jackass to them, and when was the last time I listened to some random jackass?
for strangers in person and friends on the internet, and probably for strangers on different parts of the internet than the ones I've spent too much time on, this math changes somewhat.