For many Shia there's a strong impulse to respond to disgusting insults towards us and the Ahlulbayt (AS) in kind, by denigrating the opponent's faith, but the benefits of this approach are dubious, and the drawbacks high. Maintaining your adab and akhlaq is never wrong, however.

The benefits begin and end with self-satisfaction and, at best, pride in the hearts of other Shia. A mature reply delivers the same results while also displaying the akhlaq of Ahlulbayt in action, which is attractive and can intrigue and inspire others to investigate Shi'ism.

The drawbacks of an adversarial approach are numerous: not only do you make yourself look immature and inadvertently insult any innocent Sunni who holds the same beliefs (eg in aqidah) as your opponent, but you make the Imams, who are supposed to be our teachers, look bad as well

I'm sure many will think me a hypocrite for saying all this, because I've been very guilty of this wrong approach many times in the past, but that's kind of my point: at best I've harmed my own credibility with my past actions. Inshallah I'm trying to improve, as should we all.