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What Is Flaming?; Read this to find out!
Topic Started: Mar 28 2006, 01:19 PM (88 Views)
Pika
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I found a good book with this information.
From Kids On-Line, buy Marian Salzman and Robert Pondiscio, published by Avon Books, Copyright 1995. Pgs. 58-60:
Quote:
 
Rule number 7:  Keep a Fire Extinguisher Handy
It's going to happen to you sooner or later.  You go on-line, open your e-mail box, and see a letter from an unfamiliar person.  You open it up, and your eyes nearly pop out of your head. . . .
“Dear Clueless Idiot: You have the intelligence of a handball. Your head is so far up your butt that you obviously con 't see . . .”
Aaaaarrrrgggggghhhhh! You’ve been flamed! Don’t panic. And, most important, don’t take it personally.  There is something about cyberspace that makes some people downright nasty. They think it’s fun to pick on other people and write mean things.  Ignore them.  In the real world, these people are probably quiet and shy and maybe even polite. But some strange process takes place when they’re hiding safely behind a screen-name.  No one knows who they are or what they look like, so they transform themselves into the Terminator. At home they’re probably Pee-wee Herman. In cyberspace, they’re Ah-nold!
No matter how friendly you are on-line, eventually someone is going to disagree with you about something and take a few verbal swings at you.  We call this getting “flamed.”  Flames can range from a minor dissing to an on-line drive-by shooting. Flames can be funny or mean. Or both.
People flame each other for lots of reasons: Sometimes they really disagree with something you said. Sometimes they’re just bored and want to stir up trouble. And if you venture onto the Internet, some veteran cybernauts will attack you just because you have an AOL or Prodigy e-mail address! Just remember: Even though it may feel like it, they're not attacking you personally.  They don’t know anything about you, so how could they really hate you?  That would be ridiculous.
How should you handle a flame? “Take a deep breath and decide whether it’s really worth responding to,” advises Adam Gaffin, author of The Big Dummy’s Guide to the Internet. He notes that “nothing puts flames out quicker than ignoring them.”
So you'll know what to expect, here are some of the most common flames:


  • The Newbie Flame. These are directed at newcomers to an on-line forum, bulletin board, or Usenet newsgroup.  If you post a question that already has been answered by the veterans doz-ens of times, they might send you a flame that says, “RTFM,” which stands for “Read the @#$%! Manual!” In this case, it probably is a good idea to take their advice (no matter how rude it is) and read the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for that area.

  • The Ad Hominem Flame. Ad hominem is a Latin phrase.  It refers to someone attacking someone else’s character rather than using logic to win an argument.  For example, let’s say you were arguing with someone about a movie you saw together.  If you said, “I liked the movie because the special effects were really cool,” that person might argue by saying, “Yeah, but the dialogue was so fake.” That’s a normal discussion.  If, on the other hand, that person said, “The only reason you liked that movie is because you’re a complete and total idiot,” that would be an ad hominem attack.  He’s not attacking the movie, he’s attacking YOU.  Don’t worry if someone sends you an ad hominem flame.  All it means is that the flamer can’t come up with a logical way to counter your argument.  If you get an ad hominem flame, consider it a victory!

  • The Nit-picking Flame. This is when someone takes apart your post or e-mail, sentence by sentence, word by word, leaving no letter unturned. the flamer might pick on your grammar or spelling or logic—or all of those things. Again, your best response is to ignore it. Obviously, that person has WAY too much time on his or her hands.

  • The "Stealth" Flame. Some of the best and funniest flames are disguised.  You might get a letter that starts out friendly and helpful, then suddenly turns into a flame.


Virginia Shea, author of the on-line manners guide ’Netiquette, thinks flames are only bad when they become personal attacks.  “If you’re going to flame, make it fun, make it funny, don’t be serious, and don't be abusive,” Shea says.  “Always be aware of the fact that some people are more sensitive than others.  Be ready to pull back when it’s time to pull back.”
One thing to remember before starting or joining a flame war: Unlike a nasty argument with a friend that is forgotten as soon as it’s over, a flame hangs around for a long, long time.  When you post an insulting or nasty flame in an on-line forum, it stays on the bulletin board for people to read.  That makes it hard to forgive, and impossible to forget!
A lot of people get upset when they are flamed.  Other people, though, think it’s a lot of fun.  It’s like a game to them.  If you’re the type of person who likes to give and get flames, check out one of the on-line areas dedicated to flaming (and don’t pick on the rest of us!). There are entire newsgroups on the Internet devoted to nothing more than attacking annoying people and things.  There’s even a “Hall of Flame” on Usenet— alt.flame.hall-of-flame—dedicated to collecting some of the cleverest, hottest flames on the ’Net.

That's the best definition of a flame I can find. It's from a book, too.
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Blue Dragon
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Ive read this Pika,very nice.

Oh,by the way,I had a few encounters with Wombat's bunch lately,but they werent able to flame me obviously,and its funny how this article point out their lame ways of comming back,such as a plain insult or correcting a mistake.

Thanks,ill use these descriptions somewhere.
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