Good article, very honest.

I always try to examine my own motives when dealing with people who refuse to engage in reason (such as Trump cultists or anti vaxxers).

One thing I would note which you haven’t explicitly mentioned is that at least for me many of my arguments are meant not to convince or change the mind of the original poster (there is too much pride at stake for that) but rather to demonstrate for other forum lurkers or friends and family of the poster that their point holds no water.

It’s somewhat of a thankless task because lurkers won’t usually thank you but nonetheless when handled civilly it can be a good deed to shut someones public errors down effectively.

I usually then leave the conversation when the ‘last word’ is an argument free ad hominem attack or when Godwin’s law gets invoked.