Flame Wars as a Writerly/Destructive Diversion

It is sometimes necessary to turn from the unchanging road that one travels. Take the off ramp into an unrecognizable town, new and populated with unknown faces. Here, you can assume any role you want and such is at the crux of this telling.

Ah, a thread on a discussion site. It binds us together and conversely it can snap under the weight of varying viewpoints and vitriolic outbursts. Cliques and crews turn on one another. Mistrust reigns supreme and a certain claustrophobia takes over, as is the case when doing battle in close quarters.

The end game is the destruction of the site. This is best effected by a protracted war, wherein, there is no practical way back. All of the venom spewed cannot be reversed nor forgiven. One devastating tactic of a Flame War is the deployment of the quick burner. This results in a site that becomes thoroughly bereft of any meaningful user contact - every emotional connection is dead. The quick burner can take down a site in under two hours.

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