It can be annoying, but there's very little you can do in a positive way to combat it. In my first 2 years on Mudcat I was never flamed. A few folks disagreed strongly with positions I took on some issues, but I never felt any deliberate maliciousness. In the last 3 months I've been anonymously flamed dozens of times, and many bogus threads have been started that simply cause strife. One of the inherent results of this (and I know that several others here have had the same experience) is that you get P.M's from super-sleuths telling you precisely who's flaming you (often with pretty conclusive evidence)...but rarely 'why'. Just seems to me that it's the price of doing business on the "net".

Rick