What reasoned dissent looks like
This is the personal opinion of Kaatryn MacMorgan, yatta yatta. I am using Catherine Noble herein as a neutral example.
Catherine Noble Beyer disagrees with Silver Ravenwolf. http://wicca.timerift.net/ravenwolf.shtml
The essay above is an example of reasoned dissent. She points out what the author says that she disagrees with says and why she disagrees. She does not call her "$ilver Rabidwolf" or use her real name, not her nom de plume, or say "Silver Ravenwolf makes me puke and should be shot."
Reasoned dissent begins with identifying the person you disagree with respectfully and honestly. If the person is not a friend of yours, you do not call them by a name only used by a friend, for example, I do not like the fiction of Mercedes Lackey (sorry, Brent, Phoenix and others) but if I were to write a dissent against her writing (why I would dissent from fiction I don't know, but anything is possible) it would be inappropriate for me to call her "Misty" or ANYTHING but "Mercedes Lackey" "Lackey" or "Ms. Lackey" Catherine Noble refers to Silver Ravenwolf as "Silver Ravenwolf," and "Ravenwolf." That's how you identify who you disagree with.
The next part of reasoned dissent begins by identifying who YOU are and why you disagree. Since there are wacky people on the 'net, there are lots of reasons to remain anonymous, so you can either say who you are (as Mrs. Beyer does on this page) or you can state facts about you that give you a reason to dissent, for example, you might say "I am a Wiccan priestess and I disagree with So-and-Sos belief that..."
The third part involves saying exactly what you dissent from. If you use quotes (as the website listed does) you include as much of the quote as possible to give the gist of your problem and explain that problem. NEVER use subquotes (Beyer does not) unless you are very clear. For example, if I typed "Starhawk writes that 9 million witches were killed in the burning times" and you wrote that this blog entry says "9 million witches were killed in the burning times" you would be technically correct but lying nonetheless.
Lastly, use words and their content to dissent, not insults and insinuation. State what you disagree with and why, don't act like a bully and call names!
A good, reasoned dissent can be vicious and still respectful, but other forms of dissent are just tantrums. If you can't use words effectively to dissent, you probably have no business doing it.