Flaming in electronic communication

Communication through computer networks, electronic salons, and virtual communities has its price. Often relatively anonymous and socially detached, electronic communication allows people to write things online that they would seldom consider saying face-to-face, sometimes generating flames. In a study of the motives to flame based upon Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT), 160 subjects generated comments anonymously in parallel with a group support system (GSS) idea generation program. Results showed that high levels of assertiveness and sensation seeking predicted flaming, and males tended to participate more in the activity than did females. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.