Howard Rheingold addresses this advice to Korea's (presumably South Korea's) wired younger generation, but it applies to all of us who have high hopes for emergent democracy, a global brain, or any other revolution based on blogging or the web.

Third, civility, reason, and evidence are what distinguish the public sphere — the free and open discourse among citizens that provides the foundation for democracy — from the emotion-charged, ignorant, slogan-slinging online combat that sometimes drowns out political debate. The Web is a wonderful resource, and search engines are powerful tools. If you are arguing an issue, take two minutes to research it and post a link as part of your argument. You can question evidence, but questioning evidence is the basis of science and jurisprudence. The point is to argue the issues and evidence, not to attack the character of opponents.