I don't think that's an accurate model of how flamewars work. The fire analogy is better: if you let them burn they spread. Worse, they evoke worse from others, and if allowed to persist, they lower the norms of the community. I'd throw the broken windows theory into this metaphor soup also.

(I've detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23295278 to minimize the off-topicness at the top of the page.)

Btw you're largely right about the discussion not being significantly different, and (more importantly) about that being the key thing to look for. This is not widely understood! However, my posting that and pinning it to the top of the thread did lead to a wave of comments about the SNI, which was the intent. Maybe the discussion will shift a bit in that direction.

I like that acronym, partly because it really is a specialized concept that deserves a pseudotechnical name, but mostly because it's fun to say "snee". SNI SNI SNI.