flame bait

Flamebait is a message posted to a public Internet discussion group, such as a forum, newsgroup or mailing list, with the intent of provoking an angry response (a "flame") or argument over a topic the troll often has no real interest in.

Motives

The most popular motive is the desire for attention and the entertainment that is derived at the expense of others. Posted flamebait can provide the posting party with a controlled trigger-and-response setting in which to engage in conflicts and indulge aggressive behavior anonymously, without facing the consequences those behaviors may bring to bear in a face to face encounter. In other instances, flamebait may be used to reduce a forum's use by angering forum users.

Resolving a flamebait

It is often hard to determine who is really responsible for the degradation of a reasonable discussion into a flamewar. Someone who posts a contrary opinion in a strongly focused discussion forum may be easily labeled a "baiter", "flamer" or "troll". Therefore, it seems especially important to make the rules and focus of a discussion forum public to avoid misconceptions about its accepted use.

Taking the bait or feeding the troll refers to someone who responds to the original message regardless of whether they are aware the original message was intended to provoke a response. Often when someone takes the bait, others will point out to them YHBT for "You have been trolled", or reply with "don't feed the trolls".

The conclusion to a flamewar precipitated by flamebait is often determined by recourse to Godwin's Law.

See also

• Trolling
• Flaming
• Social software

External links and references

• jargon file reference for Flamebait
• older flamebait reference on USENET, 1985 (via Google Groups)

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