Flame Wars and the internet

Ok I decided to write this because it has been brought up a few times to me in the past. I am posting this to show everyone here that this type of thing happens all the time and where I stand.

Some of you people know me as a friend and most others here know me as the Webmaster for Redtailboa.net. I started this thread here on my site and also faunaclassifieds.com to see how people react.

As you know we get people on the site from time to time that end up hating our site.

As you know we also get people that come from other sites that end up liking us better and hating another site.

As you know we all have our own opinions and every once in a while a person will get offended by what another person says.

As you know we always get what I like to call "fanboys" from another site coming here just to stir things up and cause chaos. For instance I have a few people that come to my reptile top sites list and flame certain sites. They will rate redtailboa.net , faunaclassifieds.com or some other site and say its the biggest piece of crap site ever. The above example of these people are fanboys from another site trying to make the other site look bad.

Its all a bunch of young kids or just stupid ignorant buttheads trying to cause problems.

People the above stuff has been here since the day of BBS's. I remember back in the day one of my favorite BBS's had a hige flame war about another BBS. Its all the same. People will always talk crap about another site if they think theres is better or whatever.

I go to alot of community websites myself. As some of you guys know I have been a Mazda RX7 fan for years. I have my own and frequently go to community RX7 sites. The funny thing I see all the time on these sites is the same thing that goes on here and other reptile sites. Someone from another website will always come in to stir crap up or you will see people talking complete crap about the other site on a forum. Its all cheap shots and pointless behaviour.

Now what I want to say is this. We all have our opinions and I try to stay as openminded as much as I can. The only time I truly censor my site is when someone is just flaming or cursing. I try to make my site family based. I want 10year old kids to 80year old grandfathers to all have one simple nice place to go to.

If you don't like what a user has to say then argue it with him. But for god's sake please be smart about it and not smarta$$ about it. Be reasonable to each other. And I will also say do this on other sites as well. If you guys don't like kingsnake.com, or ssnakess.com or any other herp community out there then don't go to the site. If its really that bad then keep it at that. No need to post here why you hate them so much or post there why you hate us so much. No one cares and in the long run all your doing is hurting the other site.

I don't want the other sites out there to fail because a certain group of people hate them. Why not shoot the webmaster a email and let him know why you left the site? Please be adult about things and not childish.

I am sorry for posting this. I just wanted to state how I feel about the situation and how tiring it is. In fact some BS like this makes a webmaster want to just quit and say its not worth it. Because if you think about it, its not.

STOP for one second and think about what you are doing to others. Just because you don't like a site dosen't mean you have to ruin it for others. Do you guys know how much money a site like this takes to maintain? Do you guys know the hard hours someone like me or the admin at ssnakess.com or faunaclassifieds.com puts in? Do you know that most of us run these sites because we really care about the herp world? Do you guys ever stop to think that at times we end up paying the bill for the site over paying a phone bill? No, most people don't consider this.

I can't speak for other sites, but I do know that the money I do get for advertising or hosting does not cover the full cost of everything. Yes people I pay out of pocket every month to host this site for the herp world. Why? Because I love what I do and I love to bring people together to learn.

So in closing try to think about this kind of thing before you go out and talk about another website badly. If you don't like something tell the webmaster before spreading rumors.

And I would love to end this by saying that every reptile site out there has there own good. I visit my site mostly because it is mine...but I never have any issues with going to other sites. Heck if they have something I don't have then thats awesome. I am a big believer in what I consider OPEN KNOWLEDGE. The more people we have like me running herp related websites the better the world is educated!!!

Last I know that this forum is mostly for details on transactions and who to watch out for. I am totally open to something like this. We need something like this so we can stop cheaters. But what I am stating is different I am showing that there are people out there who make it a point to ruin another person because they don't like them

People the above stuff has been here since the day of BBS's. I remember back in the day one of my favorite BBS's had a huge flame war about another BBS.

LOL!! Isn't that the truth!!!

Seriously though...It's a shame a few have to ruin it for most.

You are so very right.It's even worse when a"forum moderator"joins the idiots & eggs on the argument.I visit several sight daily myself.Some to participate & some to just lurk .I daily see "older"members flame either a"junior"member or a younger one.Why this behavior is allowed on some sites i'll never understand.

I've seen that too...At one forum, 4 of the 6 mod's jumped in and joined in the lynching. I couldn't believe it!

Why is this on the BOI? Have I missed something in the rules that allows this to be here instead of another area of Fauna???

Everyone has the right to their own opinions ... I have mine too, but this is not the place for this discussions to happen.

If it dosen't belong here I appologize in advanced.

I posted this here hoping others would chime in with there opinion on the matter.

Again I appologize if this is in the wrong section or not even allowed here

You might see if the following forum here on Fauna isn't more appropriate, especially since many of the ings about which you were lamenting can be found there ...

Web Wars & Cult Headquarters Forum

Flames really don't belong anywhere on the web, but unfortunately due to all the various personalities intermingling in online forums, it is almost a certainty.

What I find very humourous and pathertic at the same time, is when person 'A' starts a flame with person 'B' on a site, then immediately run to other sites, post links or says the site names and the others names in an attempt at justification for their own actions on the original site, sometimes in hopes of attracting others to troll the original site in order to keep the flames going.

All that without realizing that many of us are already members of the sites they try to hide and run to.

I find that to be the equivalent of a three year old crying to mommy when daddy says no.

On the contrary, I think flames are a great way of telling who the REAL Jerks are.


Some people are combative by nature and some people just like to push other peoples buttons. oke2:


Most of the time, if people would either not react, or react logically instead of emotionally, the "flamers" and trolls get bored and just go away on their own.

These little wars are going to happen no matter what. It is human nature.........lol


People fight and argue. I have found a pretty good way of handling this on my board. I just made a place for it. If people don't like that sort of thing they don't have to enter but the rest of my forums stay clean and on topic. It has worked great. lol

I like to think f it like this

It is like owning a cat. If you give a cat a litter box he/she will use it making your job that much easier. Take that litter box away you will be cleaning messes all day.

I do not get into the "flame wars" that often on my own site. I like to BS though and joke around with everyone.

IMO there is no way to stop it so I just direct it lol