# Is there a term for a thread "fight"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 4, 2012, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-a-thread-fight/642953 "2012-12-04T12:11:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-a-thread-fight/642953/1 "2012-12-04T12:11:45Z")
Quite often in debates here and on other forums you see two people get locked into a “fight”. These two people (or more, potentially) are locked into a state where the only thing of importance is beating the other guy. Now you might cynically say all debates are like that, but at least one clear difference here is that they may not even have a point any more; all they care about is getting in a zinger and, importantly, the last word (and since both are battling to get the last word it drags on and on). I was just wondering if there is a standard internet term for this, or just a better way of describing it than I have with the preceding paragraph? The reason I ask is because sometimes when someone has line-by-line responded to me with zingers (each time ignoring context), I want to say “Hey I don’t want to do \, can we get back to discussing this properly?” ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-a-thread-fight/642953/2 "2012-12-04T12:22:52Z")
Flame war? (Or does that have to involve outright insults?) ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-a-thread-fight/642953/3 "2012-12-04T12:26:12Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Flame war? (Or does that have to involve outright insults?) Flamewar was the first thing that came to my mind too. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-a-thread-fight/642953/4 "2012-12-04T12:58:38Z")
:smack: I’d heard of flaming but not flamewars Still the first couple of refs I’ve found suggest it does imply insults, so any advance on flamewar? ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-a-thread-fight/642953/5 "2012-12-04T13:49:48Z")
> [@](#): > > The reason I ask is because sometimes when someone has line-by-line responded to me with zingers (each time ignoring context), I want to say “Hey I don’t want to do \, can we get back to discussing this properly?” there’s also [Fisking](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisking) ---
**Author:** ![Krouget](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b38774/32.png) [@Krouget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krouget)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-a-thread-fight/642953/6 "2012-12-04T15:07:24Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Flame war? (Or does that have to involve outright insults?) I don’t know where it originated, but any time I’ve seen such an interaction described on the internet, this was the term for it. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-a-thread-fight/642953/7 "2012-12-04T15:20:16Z")
I’ve heard it called “winning the internet”. As in, “If I just argue a little bit more in this thread, I’ll win the internet!” ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-a-thread-fight/642953/8 "2012-12-04T16:49:22Z")
OP: I think I know what you’re talking about, and no, it’s not a flame war, at least not necessarily. Very often this happens in Great Debates: a thread, which may have started out as an interesting discussion with relevant input from many different posters, goes on for several pages, by which time there are only a couple or a small handful of people still posting, and those few are arguing with each other over a topic that’s only tangentially related to the original topic of the thread. For example, I’ve seen threads on religious topics degenrate into an argument over the precise definition of “atheist.” ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-a-thread-fight/642953/9 "2012-12-04T23:01:55Z")
Pissing contests? Breast-Beating (or, perhaps better, “Chest Thumping?”) Dominance Display? And…yeah, when a thread degenerates to “I said X,” “No, you said _X_,” “No, I said X, you’re only inferring _X_,” “No, you implied _X_,” or when a thread degenerates to “The OED says X,” “Yeah, but Thorndike Barnhart says _X_,” etc., then a thread has pretty much reached emeritus status. Or ameritus – without merit entirely. And negative points for “Prove your point or retract what you said.” Sure…that’s gonna happen… ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-a-thread-fight/642953/10 "2012-12-04T23:32:46Z")
Argumentative discourse. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-a-thread-fight/642953/11 "2012-12-05T02:00:13Z")
SDMB threads ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-a-thread-fight/642953/12 "2012-12-05T02:12:35Z")
It’s a hijack. Hey, I don’t want to keep hijacking this thread, [here’s a link] to a new one I made if we want to continue our discussion/argument/pissing contest. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-a-thread-fight/642953/13 "2012-12-05T02:20:49Z")
Pathetic ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-a-thread-fight/642953/14 "2012-12-05T03:52:42Z")
Once it’s carried to the point beyond any chance of returning to the original discussion, it’s called a trainwreck around here. Actually, I would prefer the term “threadwreck” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-a-thread-fight/642953/15 "2012-12-05T03:55:06Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Once it’s carried to the point beyond any chance of returning to the original discussion, it’s called a trainwreck around here. > > Actually, I would prefer the term “threadwreck” That’s a stupid term. It should be “threadlock”. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-a-thread-fight/642953/16 "2012-12-05T04:09:20Z")
Like others, Flaming and Flame War came to mind. I think these terms started when email came of use. Pissing Contest works, too, but that predated the internet. ---
**Author:** ![nion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c5a1d2/32.png) [@nion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nion)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-a-thread-fight/642953/17 "2012-12-05T05:24:54Z")
Another one for flame war. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-a-thread-fight/642953/18 "2012-12-05T06:24:38Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Quite often in debates here and on other forums you see two people get locked into a “fight”. > These two people (or more, potentially) are locked into a state where the only thing of importance is beating the other guy. > Now you might cynically say all debates are like that, but at least one clear difference here is that they may not even have a point any more; all they care about is getting in a zinger and, importantly, the last word (and since both are battling to get the last word it drags on and on). > > I was just wondering if there is a standard internet term for this, or just a better way of describing it than I have with the preceding paragraph? > > The reason I ask is because sometimes when someone has line-by-line responded to me with zingers (each time ignoring context), I want to say “Hey I don’t want to do \, can we get back to discussing this properly?” I’ve heard “DSW” (dick size war) used for such “conversations”. ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-term-for-a-thread-fight/642953/19 "2012-12-05T06:51:26Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > there’s also [Fisking](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisking) A brief visual representation: [www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uaPZdhxnek](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uaPZdhxnek) (Hulk Smashes Loki)