The Psyche of Debate

Having spent some 7-8 months on Orkut in general and being a part of several communities, the psyche of debate has begun to interest me.There is a statement. One person agrees to it. The other disagrees. Both give reasons for their agreeing/disagreeing. So far so good. The trouble begins, when one starts the unconscious effort to convert the other to his/her belief. And then a number of things may happen.1. The convincing power of one is so good/his reasons are so valid, the other person becomes a convert. (Rare)2. The two appreciate each other’s views but agree to disagree. (Commoner)3. When one is too eager to convince the other, but fails to do so, one in utter disgust goes down to the level of verbal attack, using foul words at the worst and sarcasm at the best. Consequence - mayhem. (Commonest)One may ask, why enter into a debate then? If no conclusions are reached and if everyone, ultimately starts fighting? Well, I would say a lot of information does come your way for you to analyze during a debate. If u like it, option 1 is open! If u don’t, option 2 is open, too! If we are debating about anything under the sun, some are bound to disagree. I empathize with the tendency to putting one's points across. I sympathize, to an extent, with the tendency to try converting another to one's way of thinking (rather a silly thing, largely). But what I fail to understand is, why should one lose one's temper if one can’t change another's opinion? Why go down to abuse and personal attack? Why lose one's cool?