> Argumentation > Non-terminating Dispute > arghXiv:2505.02640
Termination Rates in Single-Channel Disputes: An Eleven-Week Observation
View PDF: Termination Rates in Single-Channel Disputes: An Eleven-Week ObservationAbstract: We observed one real-time text channel continuously for eleven weeks and recorded every two-party dispute opened within it (N = 96). A dispute was counted as terminated when neither participant returned to it for fourteen consecutive days. Seven disputes met the criterion, a termination rate of 7.3 per cent, with a median interval from opening to final message of 41 days. The rate is small. It is not zero, and we take it to establish that disputes of this kind do reach a terminal state. The interval over which they reach it appears to have been underestimated by work conducted at shorter horizons, and we recommend longer observation windows and a finer criterion.