Current Events > FlameWars

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For those unfamiliar with computer networks, let me explain that in on-line conversation, the normal social restraints on conversation don't always work; as a result, minor disagreements can flare up into towering great arguments, with thousands of words of invective hurled back and forth along the phone lines. Emotions can run very high indeed. The delay in the system means that a retraction or an apology often arrives too late to stop the war of words from raging out of control.

These little debates are known as "flamewars."