The internet offers us the luxury of communicating with people sharing the same interests. It also opens us to praise or ridicule from our peers. Ever read comments from a person, thinking "God what an idiot, i loathe this guy." Question is: Why are people so mean on message boards?

I am sure most of you are familiar with the word "Flaming". How do you really feel about it? What effect does it have on our emotions, our sense of well-being?

Flaming: defined as the hostile and insulting interaction between internet users.

Places where people often flame: Forums, Internet Games, Internet Relay Chat(IRC), sometimes even Windows Messenger(MSN) and e-mails.

What Flamers (usually) do:

1. When they responds to a post, their response is usually not constructive, does not clarify a discussion, and does not persuade others.
2. Make up things about the person they dislike.
3. Tell (or lie) about how smart or cool they are. (eg, "I got a doctorate degree in.." "i got a hot girlfriend..")
4. Act like a psychologist when they participate in discussions. (eg: "Clearly, by using the word SUPERCILIOUS, it shows he is a person who is very... ...")
5. During discussions, they personally attack someone who does not agree with him/her. That's probably because they think that they carry the only valid opinion.
6. Talk with the intention of upsetting or offending other members of the forum.
7. Hang around the forums almost everyday, ready to shoot back at any challengers.
8. When you expose their lies, tear apart their arguments, make them look like a bozo, there's only one thing left for them to do - Insult, insult and insult. So beware!

Why do people flame?

1. Online Anonymity: When you're online you're relatively anonymous. Sure, someone could look up your IP address and then find out what part of the country you live in if they really wanted to dig, but we all know that most people either don't know how to do that or won't bother. Most people are too busy to waste time tracking down trolls. So obnoxious people can feel free to insult people, stir up contention and harass others. When you're sitting behind a computer screen posting obscenities or being ugly to someone far away, you know that you will never see this person or be contacted by them once they see your comments. This emboldens some people to say things they would never say face to face. Much of this behaviour is cowardice.
2. Insecure: They might have a case of low-self esteem (feel powerless and insecure in real life), thus when they flame and win arguments on the internet, it gives them a (fake) sense of power. People who really like themselves and have healthy self esteem have no need to bully others.
3. Attention: Some people crave attention and enjoy making trouble for others because they get a rush from it. They do it because they know they have an audience.

(Maybe some of us may have gotten into a heated argument or flame war with someone at some point, but people who do this regularly have a problem that has more to do with their basic character than just seeing a comment that makes us upset.)

Dealing with flamers:

What is the best way to deal with flamers?

1. Stop feeding their egoes. Ignore them. It can be hard when you see someone posting incendiary comments, but chances are they posted it just to get a rise out of someone. It takes self-control on your part to ignore them,but once you decide to let it go, you will find that ignoring them is quite easy.
2. Understand why they are doing this. It's possible that they feel miserable or feel the need to feel better about themselves. They might not know how else to cope with their insecurities, or maybe they themselves do not understand why they are doing it, or why it felt good for them. If we understand them better, perhaps we can be more forgiving.

Concrete Proof of today's flamer:

To end this article, I present this Warcraft III replay (ladder replay of MYM]Grubby vs fx.): It's an example of today's internet flamer. Maybe you'll get a few laughs, anyway, enjoy! :)

Click HERE to download.