Hearing the words "they called them flamewars back then" in the latest strange-aeons aged me to dust.
wait, what do they call them now?
'Discourse.'
I can not BEGIN to tell you how twitchy it makes me that “discourse” has become a euphemism for “flamewars”. Because, of course, now “discourse” has negative connotations it didn’t have before.
I’d also argue that calling it discourse lends some legitimacy to what the bad-faith actors are doing and that the switch was intentional to avoid being called out for what they really are: bullies.
Like legit, some people use discourse to mean what it means (i.e., a (hopefully) well-informed debate), but too often now, I see posts tagged as ‘discourse’ when what they really are is either fandom wank or flaming.