And perhaps it goes without saying, but I hardly ever try and joke around on message boards, because even with smilies my brand of humour doesn’t translate too well into text.

Then I realize, why would any of these guys actually respond to me? I wasn’t adversarial, I presented a point while also offering at least a partial understanding of the opposing view, and my facts are difficult to refute. That isn’t any fun. “YUOR MOM!!1″ is about all anyone could possibly say to me if they wanted to get hostile, and it’s much easier (and more fun) to pick apart clueless noobs whose flawed logic is showing.

So yeah, I too will normally just use forums as a place to get information, particularly about products I own, news about upcoming games, etc. Seems to work well!

Ironically, just today, our local newspaper website erupted in “anti-flamewar vigilanteism.” Some guy apparently got sick of the anonymity-fueled bashing on the site, and is now flooding the comments thread of every story with post after post of copy-and-paste grandstanding against the practice, urging readers to contact the newspaper executives and demand “that they put a stop to it.” How the paper’s management is going to make people play nice is beyond me. Maybe he means “tell them to take the comment feature away”?

What was apparently lost on the man was the fact that he, himself, was being incredibly hostile about his opinion — and, like the anonymous posters he loathes, he did it all under a generic screen name. Pot, meet kettle…

That’s one reason I don’t really get into message boards and the like online; since all the people you talk to on there are pretty much strangers, I tend to be a bit reserved and, y’know, polite. Of course, that’s the best way to get completely ignored by everyone on said boards. It’s a win-win situation! I just can’t jump in and go, “YUOR MOM!!1″ without feeling stupid.

Of course, the places where those types of jerks hang out are usually full of idiots and best avoided, anyway.