12-09-2004, 04:59 AM
12-09-2004, 05:40 AM
12-09-2004, 05:49 AM
Yeah, there is a thin-ish line between debates and flame wars, but I think its fiarly recognisable. The way I'd define it would be that a debate talks about a subject with lots of people and counter points and new points made all over the place. But a flame war is when usually around 2 people start just giving insults to each other instead of talking about the topic.
However at the same time, debates can still go on between only 2 people and not be a flame war, and little insults can still be thrown here and there as long as they are in the right context and not meant as serious insults. For instance, sometimes in debates I might call someone "delluded" (assuming thats spelled right
) but it will only be if I think their perception of something is a bit off, I would not say it just because someone did not agree with me or something like that, and I don't think its really something that could start up a flame war.
So as long as everyone can understand the difference and talk about the topic rather than the person then we can still have some good debates. I really enjoy some good debates, but I think a fear that alot of members have is that a heated debate is too close to being a flame war and they don't want to get involved because it might becoem one. But I think in alot of cases the topic misses out on new input and perspectives of other members, and sometimes if alot of people do that then the debate is left between just 2 people, and sometimes that can actually lead to flame war.
However at the same time, debates can still go on between only 2 people and not be a flame war, and little insults can still be thrown here and there as long as they are in the right context and not meant as serious insults. For instance, sometimes in debates I might call someone "delluded" (assuming thats spelled right
) but it will only be if I think their perception of something is a bit off, I would not say it just because someone did not agree with me or something like that, and I don't think its really something that could start up a flame war.So as long as everyone can understand the difference and talk about the topic rather than the person then we can still have some good debates. I really enjoy some good debates, but I think a fear that alot of members have is that a heated debate is too close to being a flame war and they don't want to get involved because it might becoem one. But I think in alot of cases the topic misses out on new input and perspectives of other members, and sometimes if alot of people do that then the debate is left between just 2 people, and sometimes that can actually lead to flame war.
12-09-2004, 05:51 AM
12-09-2004, 05:52 AM
12-09-2004, 05:56 AM
12-09-2004, 05:58 AM
12-09-2004, 06:01 AM
12-09-2004, 06:10 AM