I'm afraid I'd have to disagree, at least slightly. Yes, it's a sign of some sort of emotional or social commitment. But there are well-crafted, intelligent flames, and there are measly, dippy flames which indicate some sort of breakdown of normal social controls and constraints.
I agree. But the question here is "to whom do they appear dippy, and why?" what norms are constructed, etc?
Jeremy, your view is a little utopian. Yes, there are artistic, even elegant flames that neatly defuse an argument while manically ranting about the state of the world. But there are also flames that are simply obnoxious, off-the-cuff responses to a message that is irritating.
actually they can be the same thing from different perspectives/audiences, but nonetheless they have some merit in either case I think. It is easy to see that flames serve some sort of function though and it is not always negative to either the group, the writer, or the recipient, and that was my sole point. -- jeremy hunsinger http://www.cddc.vt.edu/jeremy cddc/political science http://www.cddc.vt.edu 526 major williams hall 0130 http://www.dromocracy.com virginia tech -under construction blacksburg, va 24061 540-231-7614