Flaming
Internet's curse
Educated yes, but have Singaporeans class? Read forums and decide. BBC 'Webwise' on flaming.
Sep 7, 2004

Being horrible and insulting to someone on a message board is called flaming.

It's important not to flame not only because it's not very nice but also because flames have a reputation for getting out of control.

For example, some message boards about politics are unable to have proper discussion because of the 'noise' of flaming going backwards and forwards.

Flaming a board

Imagine, the response you would get if you went to an Elvis convention and shouted "Elvis is Dead" repeatedly.

You would get a lot of people shouting at you and then, even if you left, everyone would turn to each other and discuss it.

In real life this might take just a few seconds but on a message board about Elvis this could means pages and pages of discussion as everyone joins in to shout down the Elvis hater.

Before you know it, everyone could have forgotten what the original discussion was about.

Flame war

Sometimes when discussions become really heated it seems like everyone has thrown the rule book away and started to argue horribly.

If this gets out of control it's called a "flame war". If this happens in a message board you like, just stay out of it - pardon the pun - but joining in will just fan the flames.

Your best chance of getting your board back is to sit back, wait... and hope!
BBC