Well, I've said this before, to general laughter and skepticism, but finding this forum was literally a life changing thing for me. I steamed in here full of opinions, thinking I knew everything and expecting to find idiots that I would blow away with my insightful views.... (I don't mind if you laugh at that bit because I do too now, whilst cringing) and the first thing that surprised me was that other atheists were disagreeing with me. It took me about 6 months until someone (I forget who) recommended that I do a course on 'How to reason and Argue' and that's the thing that changed me.
Learning simple things like how to construct a logically valid argument (might still not be very good at it but at least I know what it is), or avoid fallacies, or be more certain before even opening my mouth, changed me. I now argue much less than I used to because I know that I can't disagree with someone's view until I fully understand it. So these days I find myself either staying out of conversations because I know that they're much more complex than the other participants realise, or because I'm asking questions and we never really get past that point. I find that I can no longer argue with people who don't understand even basic Logic because they can't understand the mistakes they're making or know enough to point out my mistakes. As someone who has been very argumentative in the past, this is a significant thing.
I've greatly valued the minds I found here, to learn from, to use as sounding boards for my views, to be able to have a conversation about contentious topics without it becoming unpleasant and personal, mostly. I stopped arguing with Zumby and OrP a long long time ago and started to use them to figure out why I was wrong (Not always successful because I often wouldn't understand their arguments, so the conversation would fizzle out while I tried to figure out what they were saying). But I'm massively grateful for the effort they put in, and to everyone else who tried to explain why I am wrong about things.
Zumby changed me when he said 'when you're more scared of being wrong than of appearing to be wrong.....', a piece of advice I very much took to heart. I'm much less likely to blurt views now.
So, I know I'm not particularly respected here, or considered as one of those who helped others (unless they learned something from me sticking my neck out and getting schooled) but I thought I'd add my thanks anyway. Posting here has had more impact on me and my life than all the other forums put together, and my daughter just got an A* in her Religious studies exam
thanks to the level being way lower than what I've become used to here... so thanks y'all.