This post of mine is a bit drifty, but I think it's relevant enough.

My advice is to ignore this thread, and move on. I highly doubt that the original poster is genuine in motivations or presentation.

I don't think the intentions of the person who starts a thread is of any more significance than the intentions of anyone who posts there. It's not unusual for a thread which was clearly started by someone with malicious intent to actually turn into a enjoyable and useful discussion. Just because you start a conversation it doesn't mean you own it.

That's one reason why getting too excited about whether someone is what they appear to be hasn't much point. I remember that thread about the lady thinking of leaving her where some people got excited about whether it might be a leg pull, which it wasn't. So what if it had been? There are plenty of people around in that kind of situation, or with useful experiences to share concerning things like that.

And there was another case where someone posted identifying themselves as a Pole interested in sea shanties, and there was a similar business (some of it daft because it centred on people thinking that it was improbably to have Pole's singing sea shanties, which was just plain ignorant).

And once again it was completely irrelevant - it doesn't matter if a person posting is "genuine" or not. Or at least not sufficient to risk being unkind to a stranger.

I think we're using "flame" a bit loosely here, to include the odd grumpy remark. I think it means something a bity strionger and more sustained than that. And it doesn't crop up here too often. The odd grumpy remark does. Fortunately less often than in schools, unless teachers have improved their manners more than I think they have.