In non-internet life, face-to-face interactions, I notice all sorts of instances of what I consider to be poor modes of thinking. People asserting things or wholeheartedly believing things (to the point that they merely state something, expecting you to be 100% on-board with their ideas) without proper warrant, and with what I believe to be a very passive acceptance of their thoughts as valid without having thought about them very deeply. This includes things such as racism, poor treatment of children, conspiracy theorizing, flaunting certain behaviors that would prove the person extremely foolish and even possibly evil to the vast majority of the rest of humanity, and, of course, religious preaching and proselytizing. The latter, in recent years, has become much more mild, and the people who I experience proselytizing have, for the most part, stopped trying to be so aggressive with it - though I still run into the oddball now and again who will do something like tell me I am going to hell, or at least strongly hint at it.
Anyway, I noticed that in these "real life" situations, people will shy away from, or superficially acquiesce to points I make, or leave conversations altogether, apparently writing me off for some of the ideas I share with them. In other words, I don't get very deeply into a conversation with people where I am attempting to question their stance and point out what I feel are the flaws in it, before they are running away, or employing tactics to try and discredit me or perform some other style of escape.
On the internet, however, because it is anonymous, people are more willing to go further into things a bit - even if they ultimately end up employing some of the same tactics of escape - it is usually deeper into the conversation, and more gets said more easily and freely. So that is why I come here, or to forums in general. To release some of the tension that builds up in not being able to question and critique people's ideas, and try to get them to see what I believe are the errors in certain modes of thinking. To hone my ability to quickly come back at people with analogies, or thought exercises or examples that lay bare such flaws. And to also correct my own thinking if there are things I am currently in acceptance of for which I do not have sufficient warrant. For example, I have changed my mind in certain ways on such topics as abortion and veganism/vegetarianism based on conversations here, changing my positions to more moderate ones that encompass more rational acceptance of fact, rather than any gut reactions to what I believe is "right" or "wrong."