>The conclusion that the authors drew was that this medium breeds this sort of exchange... That when you combine the public nature of a message board with a group of subject matter experts, you will get, well, debates, like this.

I will amen to that. The UT battles (er, debates) are very similar to the same wars that break out in other web forums I participate in - philately, cameras, etc., where a lot of expertise and impassioned feelings are thrown together. There is nothing unusual here on the UT, from my experiences on the web. The medium is just conducive to "verbally duking it out."

But if you want to put things in perspective, try visiting a few unregulated video game forums frequented by teens with heavy angst, where you have to look hard for a post that is NOT a flame, and the language would make a sailor wince :)