Hmm, let me reword. Some of my best teachers, in and out of martial arts, have been jerks. Sometimes their method of delivery gets in the way of the lesson (an intentional one or otherwise) they are teaching, but at times the abrasiveness is effective too. In college, I had a few courses where the professor used the Socratic method to help us open our minds to other perspectives, and definitely this could be intense and adversarial at times.
I have had quite the opposite experience. In fact, the vast majority of teachers I have had in college, high school, etc. who have been jerks haven't had much worth teaching. They used their lack of social skills to cover for the fact that their teaching skills were lacking. You can certainly challenge someone's preconceived ideas without being belligerent, I think.
And I have experienced the Socratic method at the hands of more than one professor who didn't need to be antagonistic about it, to everyone's benefit.
It's funny, recently I had lunch with an old martial arts brother of mine and we were discussing a similar topic. I mentioned that I knew a very high ranking student of a very senior instructor but the student, despite the fact that he held quite high rank (one of the instructor's senior student, in fact), was - to put it mildly - an expletive deleted. I asked my friend if he thought it would be worth while if I studied with said person, or his instructor. My friend said he thought it would be even given the obvious character flaws of the student or if I had a problem with him I could consider his instructor and train with him myself. But, I asked, isn't learning how to be a good person the most important thing about martial arts training? Certainly in Taekwon-Do it is with the emphasis on the Tenets and Moral Culture. His own training in Praying Mantis Kung-Fu also places a very high emphasis on character development being influenced by Confucianism to a large degree. My friend agreed with this. So I asked why I would want to train with someone who was so lacking in social skills and I also wondered what it said about the instructor's ability to judge a person's character. I can go anywhere to learn how to kick or punch or wrist lock some one. Any idiot can teach me those things. But are they the kind of people I want to associate myself with? No. I understand that there is a difference between guiding someone on the way and walking it yourself, but those two things aren't completely divorced from each other. And, frankly, if that's their idea of being a good teacher, they're not.
FYI, this wasn't about another Taekwon-Do instructor. I'd never leave my instructors even if they tried to kick me out (as I've told them myself

) but rather a different style I was considering cross training in. I've been so spoiled having my instructors that sometimes it can come as a huge shock when I meet people who are their juniors who don't act like I would expect a white belt to act.
I don't know that anyone here at MT is trying to 'teach' when they post, but I can say I have read information here that I was able to research further and then later use to my own benefit in my real life. And sometimes the information came from a post that was written in a fashion that was less than friendly. I'd like to see the KMA section of MT be a more peaceful area, but I don't think all the conflict is a bad thing either. But then I am not a moderator.
Oh, I've seen it. It's blatantly obvious in some cases (which is when I simply don't get involved in a thread, or at least not with the poster in question). As for conflict in the section, it's a fixable problem.
In the end, we all need to take a chill pill. Occasional absences from the boards are good when we lose perspective and become incensed at other people over the internet. Might be a good time for some of us to take a voluntary vacation before the mods make it mandatory?
I agree. There were several months where I didn't post and there are some posters I simply won't reply to for my own peace of mind. And that's a lesson I had to learn the hard way. In the end, if I lose my self-control because of what some keyboard warrior posts then did I have any in the first place? Not much.
In the end, to paraphrase shesulsa, you catch more flies with honey...
Pax,
Chris