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Sometime you are attacked with a barrel of criticism and oppositions by the third party internet users on your post almost to the extent your computer being crashed. We call this phenomenon “炎上,” meaning “flame up” in Japanese.

I checked how it is described in English on google, and found three local language specialist sources (juken.oicon.co.jp / cancam jp / eikaiwa.dmm.com) gave the same verbatim translation of the Japanese words, “flame /flaming / flame up” and some examples:

  • Did you hear that the actress got her blog flaming again! – cancam jp
  • He got flamed for making a racist comment on his blog. –eikaiwa.dmm.com

I’m not yet convinced. Are “flame /flaming / flame up” really a proper and received English word or phrase to express rush of attacks and criticism on blogs and twitter from your objectors ? What else, if you have?

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    @Mari-Lou A. Thanks a lot for your usual attention to my post and a pertinent suggestion for correction.
    – Yoichi Oishi
    Commented Mar 23, 2018 at 1:03
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    I haven't heard flamed used in a number of years. I think of it as being used in a time when the internet was more personal than it is today, from a time before the kind of barrage of attacks existed.
    – Al Maki
    Commented Mar 23, 2018 at 2:31
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    @AlMaki I agree--it's an old term. And it lead to flamebait as defined here: google.com/…
    – Xanne
    Commented Mar 23, 2018 at 5:53

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"Flame/Flamed" could be used in that context - it might sound a little unusual to native speakers, but they'll know what you meant. - "DDoS" or "DoS" attack - refers to a Distributed Denial of Service attack, where a server is constantly from many different points in order to clog it up and prevent other traffic getting through. This is a deliberate, technical attack though.

  • "Brigaded", where a number of users from one site organise themselves to go to another site and troll / attack it at the same time. Again this refers to a deliberate, malicious act, though the aim isn't usually to crash the server
  • "Hammered"/"Slammed" as in "my site really got hammered", can be used to refer to a large influx of people. It can be used for both positive and negative traffic, and doesn't have to be organized or malicious

There is a term "Flame war", but that usually refers to a vicious internet argument or fight between two or more parties. It's not usually used when referring to many people targeting one

EDIT: @zZebrafish has brought up "trolled" which is good, though it can refer both to a group and single party. It also means attacking to a reaction, or to provoke someone, often for fun, rather than criticising or disagreeing with them.

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    If it's criticism or trolling, I'd agree it's flaming.
    – Zebrafish
    Commented Mar 23, 2018 at 0:26
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Cyber Harassment is the art and science of one or more online users attempting to psychologically devastate another online user(s).

In Florida, it's one definition of criminal stalking.

harry, harrying, harries, harried verb [WITH OBJECT]

  1. Persistently carry out attacks on (an enemy or an enemy's territory)

‘the raiders then spent three months harrying and burning the area’

1.1 Persistently harass.

  • Did you hear that the actress got her blog cyber-harassed again!
  • Did you hear that the actress got her blog stalked again!
  • Did you hear that the actress got her blog harried again!
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I think that flame is in fact the right word here (but not "flame up"). As a native speaker (and someone that spends too much time on the internet, probably), it doesn't sound weird to me at all when used properly. In fact, this sense of "flame" can be found in the OED:

intr. slang (orig. and chiefly Computing). To rant, argue, or harangue, esp. via an electronic medium (such as e-mail or postings to a newsgroup); to send an inflammatory, abusive, or (esp. in early use) inconsequential e-mail or posting, usually as a hasty response or in a rapid, angry exchange. Also trans.: to send (a person) such a message

(I'd be curious if the Japanese expression is related. The OED's first citation for this sense of "flame" is from 1981, so it seems possible that it came from English.)

Here are some real examples from the internet that show how it's used:

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