Editing Flaming (Internet) (section)

==History==
Evidence of debates that resulted in insults being exchanged quickly back and forth between two parties can be found throughout history. Arguments over the ratification of the [[United States Constitution]] were often socially and emotionally heated and intense, with many attacking one another through local newspapers. Such interactions have always been part of literary criticism. For example, [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]]'s contempt for [[Jane Austen]]'s works often extended to the author herself, with Emerson describing her as "without genius, wit, or knowledge of the world". In turn, [[Thomas Carlyle]] called Emerson a "hoary-headed toothless baboon"<ref name="reid">{{cite journal |last1=Goldsborough |first1=Reid |title=How to Respond to Flames (without Getting Singled) |journal=Information Today |date=February 2005 |volume=22 |issue=2}}</ref>

In the [[modern era]], "flaming" was used at East Coast [[engineering]] schools in the United States as a present participle in a crude expression to describe an irascible individual and by extension to such individuals on the earliest [[Internet]] chat rooms and [[message board]]s. Internet flaming was mostly observed in [[Usenet]] newsgroups although it was known to occur in the [[WWIVnet]] and [[FidoNet]] computer networks as well. It was subsequently used in other parts of speech with much the same meaning.

The term "flaming" was seen on [[Usenet]] newsgroups in the Eighties, where the start of a flame was sometimes indicated by typing "FLAME ON", then "FLAME OFF" when the flame section of the post was complete. This is a reference to both The Human Torch of the [[Fantastic Four]], who used those words when activating his flame abilities, and to the way [[text processing]] programs of the time worked, by placing commands before and after text to indicate how it should appear when printed.

The term "flaming" is documented in ''[[Jargon File|The Hacker's Dictionary]]'',<ref>{{cite book |last1=Steele |first1=Guy L |last2=Woods |first2=Donald R |last3=Finkel |first3=Raphael A |last4=Crispin |first4=Mark R |last5=Stallman |first5=Richard M |last6=Goodfellow |first6=Geoffrey S |title=The Hacker's dictionary: a guide to the world of computer wizards |url=https://archive.org/details/hackersdictionar00stee |url-access=registration |date=1983 |publisher=Harper & Row |location=New York|isbn=9780060910822 }}</ref> which in 1983 defined it as "to speak rabidly or incessantly on an uninteresting topic or with a patently ridiculous attitude". The meaning of the word has diverged from this definition since then.

[[Jerry Pournelle]] in 1986 explained why he wanted a [[kill file]] for [[Byte Information Exchange|BIX]]:<ref name="pournelle198603">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1986-03/1986_03_BYTE_11-03_Homebound_Computing#page/n281/mode/2up | title=All Sorts of Software | work=BYTE | date=March 1986 | access-date=27 August 2015 | author=Pournelle, Jerry | pages=269}}</ref>

{{quote|...whereas an open computer conference begins with a small number of well-informed and highly interested participants, it soon attracts others. That's all right; it's supposed to attract others. Where else would you get new ideas? But soon it attracts too many, far too many, and some of them are not only ignorant but aggressively ''mis''informed. Dilution takes place. Arguments replace discussions. Tempers are frayed.

The result is that while computer conferencing began by saving time, it starts to eat up all the time it saved and more. Communications come from dozens of sources. Much of it is redundant. Some of it is stupid. The user spends more and more time dealing with irrelevancies. One day the user wakes up, decides the initial euphoria was spurious, and logs off, never to return. This is known as burnout, and it's apparently quite common.}}

He added, "I noticed something: most of the irritation came from a handful of people, sometimes only one or two. If I could only ignore them, the computer conferences were still valuable. Alas, it's not always easy to do".<ref name="pournelle198603" />

Computer-mediated communication (CMC) research has spent a significant amount of time and effort describing and predicting engagement in uncivil, aggressive online communication. Specifically, the literature has described aggressive, insulting behavior as "flaming", which has been defined as hostile verbal behaviors,<ref name=":04">{{Cite journal|last1=Hwang|first1=Jiyeon|last2=Lee|first2=Hwansoo|last3=Kim|first3=Keesung|last4=Zo|first4=Hangjung|last5=Ciganek|first5=Andrew P.|date=2016-03-03|title=Cyber neutralisation and flaming|journal=Behaviour & Information Technology|language=en|volume=35|issue=3|pages=210–224|doi=10.1080/0144929X.2015.1135191|s2cid=37685735|issn=0144-929X}}</ref> the uninhibited expression of hostility, insults, and ridicule, and hostile comments directed towards a person or organization within the context of CMC.<ref name=":04" />