An online debate crosses the line into flaming when the direction shifts from appropriate comments to personal attacks or hostile statements. Much like offline debates, a certain degree of both passion and opposition are necessary for a lively discussion; however, once the tone shifts to angrier, targeted attacks on a specific participant or group of participants, the offending poster is no longer effectively contributing to the conversation, but is instead derailing it in order to vent their own childish frustrations. For this reason, flaming is highly discouraged and may result in the flamer being banned from a site or group.