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Flaming
Internet: Flaming
1. Flaming is the practice of posting messages that are deliberately hostile
and insulting to a discussion board (usually on the Internet). Such messages
are called flames.

A flame may have elements of a normal message, but is distinguished by its
intent. A flame is never intended to be constructive, to further clarify a
discussion, or to persuade other people. The motive for flaming is never
dialectic, but rather social or psychological. Flamers are attempting to
assert their authority, or establish a position of superiority.
Occasionally, flamers merely wish to upset and offend other members of the
forum, in which case they are trolls.

Similary, a normal, non-flame message may have elements of a flame - it may
be hostile, for example - but it is not a flame if it is seriously intended
to advance the discussion.

A sequence of flame messages is known as a Flame war.

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Netiquette - Using the Internet
Flaming is personal attacks on other citizens of cyberspace via e-mail. A flame is the kind of message which attacks not just your opinion, but your personality, your looks, your personal habits and your dog's behaviour. In other words flaming has a lot to do with emotional responses, and nothing to do with reasonable disagreement.

This doesn't mean that you can't disagree with people, it would be a very dull discussion if everybody agreed, in fact there would be no point in the discussion at all. But the golden rule is that if you disagree with someone you disagree with the content of their message, you don't descend into personal comments.

There are people who try and start flame wars by posting flame bait, comments which are designed to start a fire or fan the flames. Well, I suppose it's something to do, but really, they should get out more and stop wasting everyone's time.

If you read something that really makes you angry, resist the temptation to fire off an emotional response. Take a deep breath, go for a walk, put the message away until tomorrow. Keep in mind that no-one ever changed their mind because some called them a rude name.

If a discussion you are involved in turns into a flame war, you might want to think about how you can douse the flames. Sometimes the best way is simply not to get involved, if nobody replies the flamer has nothing to burn. Remember that flaming is in direction violation of rules 1 and 4. Flames are not only unkind they are a waste of time and bandwidth. If nothing else, avoid fanning the fire.

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These are broad definitions of flaming. It would be between you and whichever moderator you were in touch with to clarify precisely what was meant.