I try really hard to be civil (although opinionated) when responding to other people in comments. I do not when I am making a post on my own page.

One of the things I like about mastodon is the tendency to be respectful and thoughtful, even when holding strong opinions.

Aggressively defending your point of view, or disagreeing with mine, is fine, so long as you use logic and facts. Anyone who goes directly to ad hominem really ought to be on Xitter, not here, and will be blocked.