Flame and hostile interactions between internet users can happen in many different ways. However, you tend to see flaming happen more on internet chat rooms and online forums. This is because there is a lot of interacting with people on these sites, and people are usually more open about speaking their mind. When ever two users get into an exchange of hostile words back and forth, this is called a flame war. Even though flame wars usually happen in chat rooms and discussion boards, you can still see some flame and hostile interactions between people using email. However, this tends to happen less, because usually only friends are talking by way of email. When you are talking in a chat room or discussion boards, you are interaction with lots of people at once. If you make a comment that one person does not like, they will waste no time in telling you. This is why many people are afraid to join a lot of chat rooms, because you never know when a flame war will break out.

The saying flaming is believe to come from the Marvel superhero the Human Torch. In one issue of the comic book he was unable to control when he would burst into flames. Because we never know when a flame and hostile interaction of words will take place, it kind of works in the same way. However, not all flame and hostile interactions are towards other people. Some people use chat rooms as a way to vent their anger, sometimes that can be taken as flame and hostile interactions. So, why do we see a lot more flaming online than we do in real life? It is real people online, why do they choose to vent online and not in the real world. Most people feel safer to speak their mind when no one knows who they are. In real life, you have to speak your mind right in front of the person you are speaking too. Online however, you are able to say what you feel is right without anyone knowing who you are. This was talked about in a book sometime back. Of course, in the book they talk about wearing mask to hide your identity. It was found in a study that people would do stuff that they would not normally do if they were wearing a mask. They believe this is because people will act out off character if you do not know who they are, or if you will never know who they are. Many people feel like the internet works much like a type of mask. You do not see the people and thus they will say and do things that they would not normally do. This is why we see flame and hostile interactions a lot more online than we do in real life.

Just because you can not see the person you are in a flame war with, does not mean that he does not have feelings. Flame and hostile interactions can be spoken, acted, or in the case of the internet, wrote. You should treat people online the same way that you would want to be treated in real life. It is not a good to hurt anyones feelings. It does not matter if it is online or in real life, you should treat people with respect. That is what it comes down to. When we get online to use the internet, we do not want to worry about getting yelled at. We want to be able to speak our minds with out starting a flame war. So if someone says something you do not like, the best thing to do is just leave it alone. Everyone will be a lot happier that way.