Two thoughts came to mind while reading this thread. First was the image of a toddler slamming a door over and over. Toddlers love to do this; they're delighted that someone as small as they are can, with such little effort, move something so big and make so much noise. Second, the often repeated rationalization for misbehaving in children (true or not, I can't say) that negative attention (punishment) is preferable to no attention (being ignored). These thoughts may give insite regarding flamers, perhaps not.