What is a flame?

As part of this note, I will tell you what a flame is, ✍🏻 as well as some features. And I’ll start with a definition.

Flame – what is it?

Flame (flame – fire, passion) is, in Internet slang, an argument for the sake of an argument, implying a verbal skirmish, often no longer related to the original topic. The main difference between a flame and a heated debate on a topic is that the former implies a transition from facts to a discussion of personality and the like. In other words, the participants are scattered and trying to win the argument by all possible means.

In what situations is the term used?

For example, in a forum people are discussing a certain computer game. One of the participants expresses harsh criticism. The other takes criticism too closely and, in a fit of passion, begins to fend off the “critic” in every possible way. As a result, such a discussion develops into the usual skirmish of the form “and you., and I.” In this case, you can often find the phrase “well, the flame has begun again”, which is similar to the phrase “they seemed to discuss the topic normally, but again the comrades did not share something and a useless argument began.”

What is the peculiarity of the flame?

Such skirmishes usually lead to the following. First, as they say, “swearing, abuse, tears, snot.” Secondly, departure from the main theme. Thirdly, the discussion is filled with a lot of useless messages that interfere with other users. Exaggerated, “reading adequate messages every 3-5 texts from a soap series is still a pleasure.” Although, in principle, some people like to watch such things (serials are series, as they say, “it’s fun there, passions boil there”). Fourthly, the skirmish can grow (moreover, even like an avalanche). For example, two people argued among themselves, some of the readers were touched by some separate phrases and they also entered into an argument, Then there were more participants who did not like some expressions, and so on.

Can a flame be useful?

In principle, a flame can be useful. For example, if a heated argument “about nothing” (but passionate and alluring) begins in a “half-life” topic, then it can attract the attention of other people. However, here it is important that the flame is gradually reduced to nothing, and the discussion returns to the discussion of the original question.

Note: It is also worth noting that in some cases, the flame may allow you to remove the general negative background, due to the fact that the participants pour out the accumulated anger and aggression, and then return to a normal discussion. However, this does not always happen (sometimes, the case can end in serious insults), so you need to be very careful and delicate with such disputes.

Some causes of the flame

• Bad jokes, ridicule, etc.
• Unconstructive, unreasoned criticism of the posts of participants in online communication.
• Harsh statements about any extraneous phenomena, products, goods or personalities that can be perceived by the interlocutor as a personal insult.
• Conflict of worldviews.
• An indication of the inexperience, illiteracy or lack of qualifications of the interlocutor, doubts about his intellectual abilities, the maturity of his judgments.
• Various polemical techniques (bringing a correctly expressed opinion to the point of absurdity, using obscene language or other insults that have nothing to do with the original topic of the dispute), etc.

Measures of restraint

Site moderators watch the flame. Users who systematically violate network etiquette and communication rules on a particular site for Internet communication are sent to a ban. Offensive messages are usually deleted, in some cases, because of the flame, moderators are forced to close entire topics.

The main types of flame

Flames can be divided into two types according to their features – initiative and reactive. An initiative flame implies the appearance of an unbalanced active aggressor who offends all forum participants, both individually and the entire community. A reactive flame occurs when any, even the most harmless, off-topic remark causes an inadequate reaction from other interlocutors.

How to protect yourself from the flame?

The most reliable defense against any flamers and unbalanced boors on the forums is to completely ignore them. By responding to a flamer, you are drawing yourself into an aggressive discussion. Before writing an angry response to him, full of all your most vivid impressions, it is better to re-read what you have written, take a few deep breaths, and your anger will pass by itself.

How can a flame be useful?

Despite all its obvious shortcomings, the flame has some positive features. It allows you to release aggression while sitting at the computer and without going outside, it can give a new impetus to an already stalled discussion, filling it with new colors. In this situation, a lot depends on the forum moderator, who must guide the discussion participants in the right direction, thereby turning his enemy into his ally. In addition, forum owners themselves often provoke interlocutors with a flame in order to increase traffic to their sites.

Subtleties of network communication

Despite the seeming freedom, without rules, real chaos would begin on the Internet. Meaningless messages and mutual insults are already a solid part of online life. At the same time, there are universal principles of communication, and each network resource prescribes its own rules that must be observed.

What is a flame? In the overwhelming majority of cases, this is the name of a heated discussion in which no one pays attention to decency. Most often, such discussions occur under provocative articles or blog posts with a large number of subscribers.

Flame or flood?

The most common feature of Runet is the metamorphosis of terms. With us, meaning often flows from one concept to another and actually replaces it. What is a flame? If you ask the younger generation, then most users will not even understand the meaning of the question and will open Wikipedia in search of an answer.

Flood is the random sending of meaningless messages in order to quickly fill up the information space. In fact, this is a common network hooliganism. In Runet, a flood quickly began to be called a flame, there was a kind of absorption of one term by another. Now even special subsections of forums created for non-thematic chatter are called “flood” or “fludilka”.

Why do people flame?

“Argument for the sake of argument” occurs with a special purpose only if started by trolls. In other cases, this is an expressive discussion that devolves into mutual reproaches and attempts to “get the upper hand” and “put someone in their place.” What does it mean to flame? If the original topic of discussion has already been forgotten, and an indiscriminate exchange of dubious arguments begins, then the best option for a painless exit is to close the browser tab. Why do people stay in an argument, even if they experience negative emotions?

Perhaps it’s all about the adrenaline attack and emotional excitement. At the same time, disputants often communicate anonymously and can afford frankly offensive statements. The feeling of superiority, when someone managed to win such a dispute or simply crush the number of messages, like many users. It is not surprising that they want to repeat this feeling and get involved in new holivars.

Polite offtopic

Not every digression turns into heated battles. The concept of “off topic” (from English off topic) in the academic sense includes both flame and flood. In Runet, you can politely apologize and along the way discuss some topics that do not correspond to those stated in the topic. This can be caused by someone else’s comment, the presence of all persons involved in the non-thematic discussion, or any other reason. If a flame is like an uncontrollably flaring up flame, then a calm, polite offtopic is more like a lively conversation, in which topics smoothly flow from one to another, forming an interesting conversation.

Common Flame Causes

• Ambiguous and unfortunate jokes, ridicule, offensive hints, etc.
• Unreasoned, unconstructive criticism of the posts of other participants in the discussion.
• Harsh statements about various abstract objects (games, companies, films, sports teams, actors, ideologies, political parties, etc.) that are unpleasant to other interlocutors.
• Conflict of worldviews (difference of views on events, circumstances, etc.).
• Challenge the interlocutor.
• Accusing another participant of the discussion of inexperience, illiteracy or insufficient qualification, expressing doubts about the maturity of his judgments and intellectual abilities.
• Various polemical techniques (use of obscene language, insulting statements that are not related to the topic, bringing the correctly expressed opinion of the interlocutor to the point of absurdity by substituting concepts, etc.).

What is flood, flame, trolling, subject and offtopic

What is flood, flame, trolling, subject and offtopic? These words are very popular on the Internet, including social networks, forums and various blogs. But what is the true meaning of these concepts?

Let’s take a closer look at what the terms flood, flame, trolling, subject and offtopic mean, and in what areas they are used.

• Subject – comes from the English “subject”, which in translation into Russian means the topic of conversation that is conducted on the stream, forum, conference and any other Internet platform.

The subject is the main topic of the conversation – the subject of discussion. But already a deviation from the subject will be considered offtopic (offtopic – deviation from the topic).

Thus, the person who committed the offtopic is reminded of the subject that is being discussed by a group of people.

• Offtopic (offtopic) – when using such a term, a person often tries to make it clear (ask for forgiveness) that his message does not correspond to the topic of the conversation (off topic).
• Flame – this word implies an unexpected dispute (from flame – fire) or a discussion of something that has nothing to do with the subject.

For example, during communication, one of the participants may begin to insult their opponents or express a personal opinion that does not interest others. As a result, ordinary readers may simply get confused or lose the main thread of the conversation.

What is flooding and trolling

Trolling and flooding bring much more harm to communication than offtopic or flame.

• Flood is a “contamination” of a subject (topic) both intentionally and unintentionally. Usually the flood takes up a lot of space and is completely meaningless in relation to the subject where it is left.

This may be some ordinary information, repeatedly repeated in the process of discussing a specific topic.

• Trolling is again one of the types of violation of ethics during online or live communication. But what does trolling mean? In fact, these are intentional or unintentional actions aimed at infuriating the interlocutor or carrying out a provocation.

Trolls tend to excite the audience in one way or another, and then enjoy watching what is happening. In fact, this troll is the same provocateur.

Such provocateurs are often found on almost any Internet site. However, it is not easy to figure out the troll, because he tries to behave like a simple and diligent user.

The main reason for the spread of trolling is anonymity in the course of communication on the Web. In real life, trolls behave decently, because they can receive punishment in one form or another.

In simple terms, trolling, flooding, flaming and offtopic is not good. On the contrary, one should always adhere to the subject in order to promote beneficial communication between the participants.