cbd@iham1.UUCP (Carl Deitrick) (10/05/84)
I think there is another reason why flames are so prevalent on the network: Contributors are not talking to a person, they're talking to a *machine*. Intellectually, they must know their articles are read by real people, but when they type the article in, they're talking to a *machine*. They can rant, rave, curse, use sharp language, be judgemental, boorish, sarcastic or whatever else they want and THE MACHINE DOESN'T CARE! If they tried the same thing with a real person, they'd have their lights punched out. Talking to the computer like that has great therapeutic effect, and I do it all the time. I just never post it to the net. The only question of substance here is why scientists want to study such obvious subjects. They must be social scientists. :-) Carl Deitrick iham1!cbd