Presumed effect is merely fortune-telling. Xentronium said nothing about the java and rspec arguments themselves, just that something was said with what they think is an undiplomatic tone.
The notion that you cannot criticize somebody for the probable consequences of their actions is idiocy. Especially given the track record of DHH-driven flame wars in the past.
He also did say something about those specific arguments: that they were blanket. Which I took to mean: shallow and over-broad.
To whatever degree flamewars result here, they are historically not flamewars per se, but people arguing over tone. And I'm no statistician, but I would question the GP's probability calculations.
The way to avoid flame wars is not to feed them in anticipation, but to offer a critical beatdown of the arguments at hand, e.g. the higher levels of the PG pyramid.
