When/how do you decide to give an opinion or pass on it? Some threads can be, or become, very controversial and there are those that know that won't have anything to do with the thread. IOW, "I don't want my opinion to be "trashed" or argued about. Then, there are those that simply don't care and will give their opinion, whether liked or not. How about you?
I try to stay away from getting too embroiled in discussions on topics that are likely to result in my actually disliking someone on the basis of their opinions, and vice versa. Thus, I don't often get involved in discussions of abortion or religion, so far as comparing specific religions or denominations negatively. When I do, I will usually break off early. I may have strong opinions on some of these topics but I don't want to dislike anyone here, so I simply don't go there, or I don't go very far in that direction. Controversy is only a problem with people who can't tolerate disagreement. Probably, we all have subjects for which we cannot tolerate disagreement. If someone came on the forum to discuss that they didn't see anything wrong with having sex with children, I wouldn't be able to tolerate that opinion, and I wouldn't allow it on the forum because I trust that most, if not all, of you, would be offended by that opinion. That's an extreme example, but a lot of people feel similarly about abortion, which is why I considered not allowing that topic. I have discouraged it, although the recent Supreme Court decision couldn't simply be ignored. As we have seen, some people hold political opinions that do not allow for disagreement. The progressive movement encourages that, but we've seen examples of political intolerance on both sides. This is why some forums don't allow political topics. To answer the question that I think you're asking, I would say that if you cannot tolerate disagreement, or if your feelings are hurt when others don't agree with your opinion, then perhaps it's best not to advance it. Since this is a discussion forum, we pretty much have to allow both sides to be advanced, don't we? Otherwise, there's not much to discuss. There are exceptions, but they would have more to do with staying on-topic than with disagreements. For example, if someone wanted to start a Bible study thread on Ephesians, it wouldn't be appropriate for someone to argue against religion or Christianity within that thread, not because it would be wrong for them to offer opinions contrary to religion or Christianity in this forum, but because it would be off-topic in a thread intended to study that Christian Book of Ephesians. They could find or start a separate thread to discuss that, however.
Like your reply above, but sometimes a person just seems compelled to give an opinion on whatever. That "sometimes" can definitely be me and, again "sometimes" doing that is definitely not in my best interest.
time and place for everything , and sometimes times it is in the best interest of all to remain quiet.
I'm guilty of being too political. Not that it changes anyone's mind but mostly I feel I'm just venting.