If you ask your opponent, "Just so I understand, are you saying ___?", they'll usually help you understand what they're claiming. People generally like to be he

If you ask your opponent, "Just so I understand, are you saying ___?", they'll usually help you understand what they're claiming. People generally like to be heard and understood, even if they violently disagree with you. There's the occasional troll who is intentionally wasting your time, but I find that to be pretty rare, especially on HN. People are most often just bad at communication, not malicious.