I tend to just see ID as a general chat expansion myself. Except there's a real gem every now and then. And the no one liners rule is enforced better which I tend to like too...
I can understand that some were put off by the negative rep, but I've also noticed that fewer people have had the balls to negative rep anyways due to us all now being able to see who gave which rep.

I think the main thing is just not to get too passionate about something. If someone's inflexible with their opinion on something, try to explain it but don't feel the need to make them see things your way. If everyone did see the world the exact same way, wouldn't things be more uniform and less interesting? Just take it all a little less seriously...