I've been of the opinion that perlmonks has a lot LESS
personal-agenda/flamewar than the rest of the internet
but maybe MORE than there is in the real world.

i think it's just an aspect of the medium that we're
dealing in. when ALL the layers of nonverbal communication
are stripped away from human interaction (i'm refering
specifically to those supplicating gestures which are used
to diffuse a situation: smiling, looking down and away,
assuming a non hostile position). We (Many people) immediately
conjure a mental image of body language to fit the words
the linguistic nature of english is (probably) such that
in normal conversation words that come across (with body language)
as fine, comes across (without BL) as aggressive *****

***** note: while i have a B.A (Hns) in Psychology and have
taken many courses on the subject of nonverbal communication
i haven't actually researched this specific topic (although now
think that a doctoral dissertation could be written on the effects
of removing NVC from human interaction)

strictly an educated geuss ... the shorter (and safer) answer would
be: 'conflict is more likely on the net because of the lack of NVC'

PS: thanks ... it feels good to get to talk psychology every once in a
while. with all computer programming i tend to miss it from time to time

    :) - alex