But neither of these strategies solves the underlying problem: getting big groups of people to converse civilly and productively among themselves. Spreading out the pile reduces the heat -- but it also reduces the light. Splitting the groups up requires the consent of the users, a willingness to be segregated from their peers.
The holy grail is to figure out how to twiddle the rods in just the right fashion so as to create a festive, rollicking, passionate discussion that keeps its discourse respectful, if not always friendly or amiable.
[WS:] There is something in the nature of the medium that provokes flame wars. That something is impersonality. Impersonality triggers and "I-it" relationship, whereas the face to face conversation usually involves a personal "I-you" relationship.
The "I-it" not only dehumanizes the interlocutor, reducing him or her into an object, but also shields the "I" from facing the consequences of his or her own actions. An analogy can be made to a fist fight vs. gun fight. In the fist fight, the assailant cannot avoid getting physically involved, which often puts a powerful brake on the altercation before the blows are exchanged. In gun assault, by contrast, the assailant can keep a safe distance and keep his involvement level similar to that at target practice or watching a movie.
In other words, it requires a certain level of determination and courage or bravery to personally assault another human being, but every schmuck can pull the trigger. Something similar pertains to internet altercations.
There is also another element in it - only very limited amount information is being exchanged via internet. By contrast, face-to-face interaction allows far greater exchange of information, from reading the body language to the communication of emotions that often play far more important role than spoken words and logic alone. Being deprived of this emotional aspect of communication can set people in a vicious cycle - they project the other person's emotions from his or her words alone, and that can provoke emotional response that further reinforces the original projections, and escalates into rage and even violence (cf. amygdala hijacking http://www.eqtoday.com/archive/hijack.html). That is less likely to happen in a face-to-face interaction, because our emotional reactions by a far wider range of cues than just spoken words, most of which is sub-conscious.
To sum it up, flame wars and trolling on the internet are produced not by personality failures of human actors, but by the medium failure, that is, the inability of the medium to convey the essential part of human communication - emotional communication.
Wojtek