What is “Flaming?
Flaming is the often deliberate act of posting or writing messages on Internet bulletin boards and message groups that have the intent of insulting or creating dissent within a group. An Internet flame is often filled with coarse language and personal insults. It is meant to hurt people’s feelings, get them fired up, and not to further conversation on a personal issue. It is never conversational, but it may be meant to upset an entire group, provoking conversation about someone’s flame or on the practice of flaming in general. Sometimes, people called Internet trolls intentionally practice flaming to provoke a group of people. This may be merely for the purpose of annoying a group, or may be an attack aimed at a group of people who have an interest not shared by the flamer. In a political message board for electing a certain presidential candidate, someone from an opposite camp might join the group and deliberately practice flaming to disorganize the efforts of the group. Piles and pil
The term “Flame” is Net-Slang for abusive and/or excessive retaliatory messages sent in reply to a person thought to be in need of a scolding. The Internet is a haven for people that would never speak out in public, but love to bash people that make even the smallest of errors on-line. For Example: Someone posts a question to the April Wine List, “Is April Wine considered a classick Rock band?” Someone flames them by replying, “What are you stupid? Not only has that question been beaten to death 1000 times already, but you had the complete lack of intelligence to spell “Classic” with a “k”. It’s “Classic” you thoughtless dolt. Maybe you should spend more time at the library before you turn on your daddy’s computer again.” Flames are often cruel and personal. If you get flamed, you may have made an honest mistake, or asked a question that’s been asked to death, or maybe you just posted at the wrong time when someone was cranky. Try not to take it personally. The Internet is a wild place
A. Because people often disagree in newsgroups, heated discussions sometimes arise, which can lead to flaming. Flame is a term used to describe an insulting message posted to a newsgroup. Flaming may be irrational and unfair, but it’s often best to ignore such comments or respond in a non-inflammatory way if you want the insults to stop.
