You're a newcomer to the Internet, but you've learned the basics. Suddenly, you jump back from your monitor with adrenalin nausea and the irrational sense that your eyebrows have been singed. Not to worry. I'm here to tell you they're wrong. Wake up, online belletrists everywhere - the Golden Age is already here, and flames are the proof.
Flames are the friction born of minds rubbing too closely together.
Think about it for a minute. If you're face to face with someone, you're exposed to countless things over which the other person may have no conscious control - hair color, say, or facial expressions. The problem of flaming is not that we don't understand each other. It's that we understand each other all too well. We're mainlining each other's thoughts.