The type of internet-war between individuals which grows out of quickly-written emails containing statements that may be easily
misunderstood or mis-taken by the recepient, and grows through retaliatory responses into massive proportions.
Since email is unable to convey facial-expressions, unable to fully-convey emotive states or
the status of the writer (ie tired, sick, depressed), is not
interactive face-to-face dialog, and tends to be hastily-written, these misunderstandings via email are frequently based entirely upon mis-communication rather than truthful intent.
Term coined by Louise Doncaster circa 2003.
Person #1 states how they were
ripped off by a third-party. Person #2 replies, "oh well
that's what you get," meaning
that's what you get when you deal with people like the third-party. Person #1 misunderstands the statement to mean that they deserved to be ripped off, or that Person #2 is flipping them off about their upset feelings of being ripped-off.
