[Air-l] Re: Flame Wars

[Nancy White]

I'm wondering about the distinction between "Flame Wars" and the ongoing 
occurrence of conflict in online group interactions. Heck, conflict 
happens. Sometimes it escalates to what would be an argument F2F. Is that a 
flame war? Or is that a relic of previous time.

What I find is the tolerance for conflict varies greatly by group, and the 
extent to which a group will let the ongoing conflict of two ore more 
members dominate the online interaction varies. Group norms, agreements, 
the purpose of the group, all play into the equation, just like offline.

But yes, in my experience there are still frequent occurrences of online 
conflict. But I think there is less tolerance for these as sport in many of 
the places I interact, primarily because the interaction is not purely a 
social activity, but focused on work, information sharing, etc. That said, 
in my online social spaces, oh, YES, it still happens all the time and yes, 
I think for some it is sport. For others, it is the reason to stop 
interacting in these spaces or to remain silent. It is a potent social 
factor in online interaction.

And I'm nodding to Eva's thoughtful post about the content/emotion 
associated with "flames."

One more thought. I also believe that conflict (which is the source of some 
flames -- not all is baiting for fun!)  plays an important role in groups. 
 From a facilitative standpoint, it is important to distinguish between the 
flame (manifestation of hurt/misunderstanding/anger) and the conflict or 
misunderstanding of the ideas *behind* the flame. There is often real fruit 
in pursuing that conversation. So in a sense, flaming might add to the 
community if it is held in a way by the members that does not harm the 
individual. Does that make any sense? It must be Friday!

Nancy


Nancy White
Full Circle Associates - http://www.fullcirc.com - 206-517-4754
Next Online Facilitation Course starts January 28th - 
http://www.fullcirc.com/ws/onfaccourse.htm