When does a debate become a flame war?

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gone777

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This is an interesting one for me. I saw a discussion on another forum between two people regarding I think it was Micro transactions and DLCs and their depiction. One guy felt the industry was too reliant on them as filler for incomplete games while the other felt the complete opposite. The thing was they were having a debate and a good one too. Very strong arguments on both sides and very intelligent too, just what a debate should be. This discussion went on for a couple of forum pages with the odd other member joining in but it was mainly these two guys and the topic was always relevant to the post.

They never attacked each other on a personal level or criticised the tone of writing or anything. However because the discussion was so long and so detailed the admins claimed it was a flame war and locked and deleted the topic. I can't provide a link because obviously the topic was deleted and i don't even know if the site is still in existence any more (was a few months back)

It is interesting because sometime admins can go too far and blur the line between debate and flame war. What do you guys think?

(disclaimer: it was a topic being locked on this forum that reminded me of this issue but this does not mean I disagree with the decision. It just reminded me of an issue I wanted to bring up i.e. flame wars and locking forums)
 
a few page debate about something, is fine. but when it gets long it could be viewed as spam, could spark a flame war with another member, ect. the admins were probably right to lock it, but not delete it.
 
Eh, personally, a debate becomes a flamewar when there is direct attacking of a person, or group of persons. And, you can disagree with a decision on the forum, it's not a complete monarchy. It would be reviewed. I just try to stop things before they get completely out of hand. But, there's no reason to delete the topic, unless it gets seriously out of hand for quite awhile.
 
As I said earlier though, this page was not spam as it was all relevant and appropriate information on the topic. The admins literally just looked at the length of the debate without even viewing its content and locked the page. They deleted it a few days later.
 
Reicha7 said:
As I said earlier though, this page was not spam as it was all relevant and appropriate information on the topic. The admins literally just looked at the length of the debate without even viewing its content and locked the page. They deleted it a few days later.
Click to expand...
That's not being a good admin/mod. If I'm going to lock a topic, I'm going to read all the way through. If stuff gets out of hand, and then gets back under control, the debate can continue.
 
When people start attacking you personally, and nitpick your post for grammatical errors and oher minor b.s. as opposed to your argument.

I personally think that this is just a distraction from the fact that they have no solid argument, and no supporting evidence to back up their claim.

I have run into these types of people both online and offline.

Anyway, regarding the part about the admins locking the topic without reading it, honestly, I think that that is just lazy behavior..

What do you think the split/merge feature is for? Why do you think that admins and mods have the ability to edit a user's posts?

I've been on forums like that, but never actively participated. Admins like that only inspire me to be a better admin on my forum.
 
I consider flaming to be attacking the person instead of the point that they are debating. That admin doesn't sound like they know what they're doing to be honest. I can't even think of any way that they would be able to justify that as a valid reason "Oh, the thread is too long, they must be flaming". Hell, even if they checked thinking "There's probably some flaming there somewhere, better check, just to warn those responsible" then it would be acceptable.
 
Reicha7 said:
As I said earlier though, this page was not spam as it was all relevant and appropriate information on the topic. The admins literally just looked at the length of the debate without even viewing its content and locked the page. They deleted it a few days later.
Click to expand...


I have also seen this a few times recently, especially in posts where a good debate was going... it never turned "personal" but i guess you can read too much into anything on the internet,

its good to stop flame wars, but SERIOUSLY we need to be able to have more mature debates on this forum without having to always talk about anime,



i agree that "flaming" is immature, and to me a flame war is when people either:


1) take the post off topic by attacking people or groups associated with the forum/post

or

2) stay on topic and attack people or groups associated with the forum/post


:thumbsup:
 
A debate becomes a flame war when as stated above. People start nit picking your grammar, they attack you and/or your beliefs instead of the point you're trying to make. It's mainly due to people being sore losers and hated to admit they're wrong or people losing their tempers.

Personally a debate should be handled in a calm manner without references to religion or race since those aren't considered "proven" facts, and swearing should not be allowed as it can be crude and offensive to the other parties.
 
I have an interesting picture here I found the pretty much sums up when a debate becomes a flame war :P
debate.jpg



Somewhere between contradiction and Responding to Tone on that diagram I think :P
 
It's simple. Once your post is targeting a group of people or someone in particular, that is triggering a flame war. As long as you dealing with the policies and the arguments, I believe that is still within the debate boundary.

Let me give you two examples:

Debate:
The points that Milton makes are completely absurd and invalid.

Flame War:
Milton is stupid.
 
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