>I don’t think most
disputes get “resolved”. I think one person simply gives up. Maybe they don’t
think the issue is that important, >maybe they feel that they don’t have the
time to argue it, maybe they feel that the other person involved is too
unpleasant to want to try to engage with, maybe they’ve found that no matter
what they do, they never make a difference.
Give up? It’s “maybe
one person realizes the other person was right, and does it their way from then
on, without any hard feelings.” It has happened to me quite a few times. That’s
the sort of outcome I was talking about.
Of course, I think of
these in terms of pure content disputes (should we or should we not mention
something? how should we format this table? and so forth ...) because that’s
what most of those I’ve been involved in have been. Disputes over someone’s
conduct are something else entirely, because it’s harder for people to
admit they were wrong in that department. And why I always say it cannot be
repeated enough that, when you realize the argument is no longer about what you
were originally arguing about but has instead become a meta-argument about the
argument itself, you should stop immediately as it will no longer accomplish
anything constructive to continue.