[Air-l] Re: Flame Wars

[Karla Tonella]

Wouldn't a flame war have to include direct and indirect ad-hominum 
attacks?  Conflict doesn't necessarily get personal regardless of the 
intensity of disagreement. I'd think that it becomes a flame war only 
if and when it devolves into attacks on the person holding an opinion 
and even then I'd hesitate to call it a flame war unless more than 
one participant engaged in ad-hominum arguments.

Speaking of flame wars -- I'm sure many of you are familiar with the 
e-mail program Eudora.  It has a warning/filter function that it 
calls "Mood Watch" which can be set to warn you if you are about to 
send a message that may offend people.  Of course some of the filters 
are set to catch sex-related language, (like the preceding phrase), 
but it will also flag a message if it uses phrases like "you need 
help."  The 3-stages of offensiveness are flagged with 1 to 3 chili 
peppers. The 3 chili message appears if the "message is on fire."  

-- 
Karla-Tonella at uiowa.edu________________________________________________
"The opposite of talking isn't listening. The opposite of talking is 
waiting."  --Fran Lebowitz