Writers tend to bungle their attempts at sarcasm and the readers tend to bungle their detection. Flame wars can involve dozens of people and can go on for weeks or even months. Most end purely because the participants grow bored of the topic. Issues which tend to ignite flame wars include abortion, gun control, homosexuality, freedom of speech, and religion. Techniques such as Emoticons and various acronyms have been devised in an attempt to overcome this growing problem of misunderstood communication.
Emoticons are nothing more than characters that look like a face when viewed side-ways.
They are commonly inserted at the end of a sentence that is meant to be interpreted as sarcasm or more generally are used when the writer fears that his words will be miscontrued. A smiley face has the ability to transform a cutting remark into a comical jest. Acronyms also attempt to diffuse the problem of flaming. These techniques are an ongoing attempt to overcome the lack of visual cues on electronic communication systems. In his papers, Erving Goffman studied the techniques of impression management.