Well, don’t you? (I had to ask a question to put this in GQ, right?) A few of us have responded on About This Message Board pleading for removal of the flames. I’ve got a headache just from surfing GQ. If you hate 'em, go to ATMB and say so!
Thanx.
Can’t really say that I hate them, but they do seem gratuitous, as we can see exactly how many responses each post has received. If such a feature is to be used, maybe it could instead refer to a thread that an admin (or higher) has posted to.
Also, when an admin locks out a thread, I think a reason why should be posted, out of courtesy. Some of them do, but I’ve yet to see that here in General Questions.
I’ll try keeping this in GQ by posing some less loaded questions:
What purpose do the flames serve?
Have posters complained about not being able to tell which topics are the most popular?
Who decided that flames were necessary?
What was the reasoning?
What if I had epilepsy?
Could I recover the medical costs of having my tongue sewed back on to the Chicago Reader?
If the administrators won’t turn them off is there some way I can disable them for my computer?
What do they mean? Tell me please…the flames that is.
:confused
But doncha like the Reply-with-quote buttons!
.
damn I mean
Oh! COOL!
I like the flames! They mark which open folders have over 15 replies. The UN-flamed folders have less than 15 replies.
Kind of unique, but then appropriate for the strangeness THAT IS the SDMB.
I think they should be CRIMSON for threads which go over 75 replies or get real heated like in the BBQ Pit.
Even the reply board has changed some! 
Love it! Love it! Love it!
I figured it out while cruising around, but I still don’t like them…ugh they make me nauseous :eek: <— I do like that though, it kind of sums up my world in one face “eek”
smilies cool
flames TACKY
- Message NOT scanned for typos…
I think, if it’s possible, the flames or some such thing could be used to indicate which threads are more than a page long. Just an idea, considering that every now and then people post twice, then explain that they didn’t realize it was a two page (or more) thread.
my new favorite smiley: 
Mayor of Snerdville, the home of Mortimer Snerd
“I’m just too much for human existence – I should be animated.”
–Wayne Knight
I hate to point out the obvious - but isn’t that what the flames are doing? Is it that hard to read how many replies a thread has? It’s RIGHT THERE.
And as for when a thread is more than a page long - they set it to start a new page after more than 50 replies. Easy enough to figure out, I think.
I hate not only the flames but the smiley faces as well.
The flames and the new smiley faces are part of the latest UBB upgrade. Another UBB site I frequent started using them a few weeks ago. We hate them there too.
At least we can disable the smilies.
“Drink your coffee! Remember, there are people sleeping in China.”
Dennis Matheson — dennis@mountaindiver.com
Hike, Dive, Ski, Climb — www.mountaindiver.com
I’m not crazy about the flames…especially since “flaming” has a negative connotation in cyberspace.
Chaim Mattis Keller
cmkeller@compuserve.com
“Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the
impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be
the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible.
The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks.”
– Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective
Comments on the flaming folders are being duly noted, as are all comments on the new UBB software “enhancements.”
I’d like to go on record as hating the smiley icons with a passion that knows no bounds. :< AT LEAST THE FRIKKING SEARCH ENGINE WORKS! (after a fashion).
[Note: This message has been edited by Nickrz]
Nickie, you hate the smilies? But they’re so cute!
What’s a flame? I don’t follow. I thought you meant the smiley faces, but then it sounds like you mean something else.
By the way, how do you make those smiley faces anyhow?
And, when people reply, what does “WAG” stand for, anyhow???
I dont like them [flames] they drive me nuts.
As of this writing, the fires have been struck. I think our humble TubaDiva was on that one like stink on shit.
ALL HAIL the TubaDiva!
On the topics list, topics with more than 15 replies have(had) flames. It looked stupid and apparently they were removed. (Thank you, whoever did that.)
Check out http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/smilies.html
or click on Smilies Legend on the reply to topic screen.
Wild ass guess.
Virtually yours,
DrMatrix