I like to think that "making death threats" is usually blowing off steam. Certainly if *I* ever intended to kill somebody I would keep *very very quiet* about it; I would want it to be a surprise. However, it's not an acceptable way of blowing off steam, beyond talking to close friends who know you're not serious. Publishing the blowing off of steam is Not Good.

This sort of hysterical emotional involvement seems to me prevalent, indeed it seems to me largely the *point* (at slightly lower levels of hysteria), of single-world fandoms, and is a major part of why I do not find them attractive.