Flames Re: Exist genuses?

[Geoff Read]

> > A true 'flame' is a totally over the top, irrational rant and personal attack,
> > often deliberately sought by making provocative comments. Being 'off
> > topic', or even making persistent trivial e-mails on taxacom ;-) is unlikely to
> > get you one. Sorry.
>
> not true - about two years ago the webmaster/owner of taxacom took me to
> task and almost cut me off and i did not rant, rave, or attack. in fact
> several of us thought the short subject was breif.  hope this does not
> rile the dander of the great one - i no longer remember what it was.
> [...] Stuart M Fullerton

Well, I wouldn't know from that what Stuart did that was unappreciated. And
it doesn't  matter. Read on.

There is somewhat of a misconception that a 'flame' is any direct criticism
at all. Not so IMHO. There must be an element of anger and uncontrol
expressed. For this reason it is often the indignant responder to criticism,
or perceived criticism, who is the first flamer. Then it's all on ... if you're not
careful.

Here is one analysis of flames that is more or less in accord with my
idea of them.

'"Flaming" is what people do when they express a strongly held opinion
without holding back any emotion. It's the kind of message that makes
people respond, "Oh come on, tell us how you really feel." Tact is not its
objective.

Does Netiquette forbid flaming? Not at all. Flaming is a long-standing
network tradition (and Netiquette never messes with tradition). Flames can
be lots of fun, both to write and to read. And the recipients of flames
sometimes deserve the heat.

But Netiquette does forbid the perpetuation of flame wars -- series of angry
letters, most of them from two or three people directed toward each other,
that can dominate the tone and destroy the camaraderie of a discussion
group. It's unfair to the other members of the group. And while flame wars
can initially be amusing, they get boring very quickly to people who aren't
involved in them. They're an unfair monopolization of bandwidth.'

[quoted from http://www.albion.com/netiquette/rule7.html]


--
  Geoff Read <g.read at niwa.cri.nz>