personally I think conflict is inevitable with online forum. There will always be something lost in translation that ends up with someone "taking it" in a different context than it was written. There are also just **** starters, people who get too quick to defend, take offense to slights (either real or imagined) etc. It's the nature of the beast. Generally when you get two or more strongly opinionated people who disagree, there is the kindling for a hot exchange.
Also, while I understand there are very good reasons to have anonymity on the internet, I found that once I started using a more personal handle I did a bit more thinking before I posted. For the same reason I believe most Facebook groups are more civil than their corresponding forums... you know exactly who you are having an exchange with, not just xxCoOlGuY6969xx.