[greenlblue]

Nice article and the lessons apply to mathematicians as well. Few mathematician are willing to engage in civil meta-mathematical discourse and usually all such discussions end up in a shouting match about the intellectual inferiority of whoever is involved.

[whyenot]

Yes. I've found it very intimidating as a grad student. I wonder though if it's really worse in math, or if most academic disciplines don't have the same problem.

[greenlblue]

It's much worse in math because mathematicians are an argumentative bunch to begin with and many novice mathematicians have their entire being built around their intellectual abilities so they get quite defensive when their views are challenged.