The Bandwidth Flame category covers a lot of ground, including flames about posting to the wrong group, posting too many messages to a group, or posting stupid messages. This one usually starts, "Do you know how many gadzillions of people had to read your useless message?" When you issue a Bandwidth Flame, you're actually wasting bandwidth. Such flames should be taken to private email, particularly if the bandwidth waster is a newcomer. Some people are persistent time-wasters: sometimes the only way to make them stop is to turn up the heat publicly. But usually, your Bandwidth Flame will invite a flaming response.

One reason Bandwidth Flames are so common is that people access cyberspace in a variety of ways. Some people are sitting at the end of high-bandwidth T1 links to the net paid for by their employer. Others sit at the end of 2400-baud modem connections that they pay for by the minute. If you have a high-bandwidth connection, be considerate of those who don't. If you have a pay-per-minute connection, don't be surprised when an awful lot of messages seem wasteful.

This flame results from disparities of knowledge and experience. The clueless newbie stumbles into a discussion group and starts posting stupid questions. Old timers and wizards then flame at will. This is a cheap flame. It's just too easy. All cybernauts begin as newbies. If you're an experienced net citizen, remember that you were a newbie at one point in your net career.

If you're a clueless newbie yourself, check the next flame closely.