It has happened to many of us at one time or another - you're happily perusing the web, posting a brillant status update, sharing your most recent flash of insight or chatting with a friend when "BAM" you get flamed.

From urbandictionary.com -

flame: a flame is a tirade. The flamer may be quite articulate and intelligent as they question the upbringing of the flamee. One can also flame about a third party to a conversation. Finally, a flame may be from an idiot, in response to a reasonable post from someone else.

So, what to do next? How you respond will either feed the fire or douse it. It will, also, show your friends (and more importantly) the world who truly you are. Remember, anyone in the world can view your posts: your children, your boss, your future spouse...everyone, and what they read will inform their impression of your maturity, communication skills, and character. Therefore, it's important to remember these few important rules for communicating online.