Flounce

Flounce is a term used on Internet chat forums to describe a type of post. Typically a flounce is where a user feels that they have had enough of the forum and, rather than simply leaving quietly, decide to post a long public message detailing their reasons, usually in a new thread so as to get the maximum number of replies.

The flounce post could contain insults directed at fellow members of the forum or at its administrators, and the users' grievances with them. They can range from the calm and reasoned to the emotional and hysterical, garnering comment and concern respectively. After flouncing, the user, rather than staying away, is usually back within a few days to a few weeks, often expecting that the mood regarding them will be exactly the same as it was when they left - which of course it never is.

In some cases, the flouncer spams the forum or - if in a position to do so - closes it entirely or disables a certain feature of it. The word flounce is intended to evoke the image of a child having a tantrum and flapping its arms about while screaming for attention.

To quote a member's humorous description:

"It was late March, and season of flounces had barely just begun. A distinct aroma of flouncitude had descended on the good people of Toytown, who were as-yet unaware that a single post, a mere whisper, would change their beloved website forever. It began on an ordinary M/T/W/T/F. Following a morning of jovial banter – headed by well-known, and well-liked, TT member John Doe – chaos struck the site, inciting a storm, nay, a tornado, only to be quelled by a series of flounces that would shake the community to its very core ..." (Erdbeere07)

Classic flounce artists

Liebe Deutschland - "How the H do I get off this stupid merry-go-round" - 8.Feb.2018
SpiderPig - "you will need to find someone else to neg now" - 16.Mar.2012
MancFurter - "I will never visit this forum again, all the best you miserable c**ts." - 23.Feb.2010
Sin - "moderator thinks the work that I do is menial" - 20.Jan.2009
langlang - "TT is a joke, arbitrary and subjective, I bet it doesn't exist a year from now" - 15.Jul.2008
odel2008 - "BadDoggie and I couldn't get along" - 6.Apr.2008
DDBug - "DDBug is leaving the building, and we all know why" - 19.Mar.2008
Jeremy - "I am not flouncing off in a vain huff or anything" - 12.Jul.2007
Jooli - "immature, insular people who've spent too long in dark, clammy Irish pubs" - 28.Jun.2007
warsteiner - "TT has remarks of an unnecesarrily condescending nature" - 9.May.2007
Thistle - "It makes me sick with rage to read your comments" - 29.Jan.2007
Grinner - "its not goodbye cruel world... but hello new life" - 9.Nov.2006
roots - "throw a stone at my coffin... and make sure you strike it hard" - 16.Jan.2006
ami58 - "TT is a bunch of self-absorbed, whining, pseudo-intellectual jackasses" - 9.Dec.2005
fototaker - "ModEraTor caLLed me siLLy for haVing ranDom capitals in the words i tYpe" - 27.Oct.2004

See the TT chat forum for some flounce parodies.

See also the discussion about flouncing and how to define it.

External links

Meatball Wiki: GoodBye - discusses various types of member departure from an online community
Flounce - Encyclopedia Dramatica - includes examples of LiveJournal flounces

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