No problem It does happen. For example, I could have quite easily hijacked this thread with my last reply. Because I am a warm and kind hearted human being () I chose to answer Crashed_Again's post (despite your post coming before mine - you did in fact give a good description of some of the causes of flaming) in the spirit with which he posted - a rational, clear headed discussion of flaming.

If I were one of those people who wanted to start something, I could have said much the same thing as I did, but make it more aggressive, jumped on Crashed_Again and basically acted like an arse. Luckily, being a mod, I had my immaturity surgically removed and so couldn't do that

I like to think that our members are educated enough to not do flaming - this, I think, is borne out by the fact that it is only a very tiny percentage of our members that do flame - to reiterate: if you or anyone else thinks they are being unfairly attacked or someone is hijacking a thread, do not rise to the bait. This is what they want. Report the post and one of us will step in.

That is the end of this public announcement.

Did it hurt?

Not really. I had it replaced with Righteous Anger (tm) - allows me to smite spammers and flamers in a single bound

Actually when I replied to your disagreement, I was confused whether you disagreed with me or with Crashed_Again. Sorry.

I am beginning to understand your point of view now.

I have noticed two types of flaming going on (maybe more, I dunno):

• The typical 'I hate Linux' or 'Which is better: Linux or Windows' type of questions. The guys who post them are just asking for it (or maybe they want it!).
• Relatively innocent threads like 'Problems with C++ pointers' type of questions that are hijacked by somebody who wants to introduce a C++ vs Java debate.

Maybe time to rethink my original question to: can you really stop flamers when they want to flame?! I wonder how many people click the little link marked: 'Report this post to a moderator'

More and more people are clicking the link (thank you to those who do) and that helps us greatly. To be honest, there are only 2 ways to stop flamers:

1. Report the post - we will step in, make a comment, email the person so as to take the discussion off line (no one wants to be told off in public) and, in extreme cases we close the thread. Obviously, we would rather not do that as it punishes everyone, not just the flamer.

2. Ignore them - flames only work if you respond. If you, however, talk around the person and make no reference to their posts they should give up after a while.

It's a bit like it is in real life - tell a teacher or ignore them and they will go away.

Controversial topics are a healthy way to share your beliefs and opinions. Only if it gets out of hand (personal attacks, pointless hammering of a particular opinion over and over...) I can see a problem with it.
The flame bait mentioned, however, really doesn't serve any purpose other than to stir people up, and I don't think it has a place anywhere other than in a forum named "flamebait".

It just occured to me...

I think cultural differences also play a big role in determining which topics are controversial and which are not.

I also think that I have read certain swear words on these forums which might offend people from different backgrounds from the one who posted them.