You really must be a newcomer to online forums/newsgroups. :) The behavior you're describing has been a part of the online exchange for about as long as the whole thing has been around. Any time you get a disparate group of people talking together you'll have the same thing happen if they talk long enough.
Some of the forums I'm on get a little too nice-nice at times: "C'mon now, everybody get along, no acting out, be nice to everyone...even if they're a doofus". Sometimes all the sweetness and nicey-nice is too much for my system. :)
