My advice for dealing with flame threads is to either report them & move on, as you suggested, or simply confront the OP directly in his own thread. I prefer the latter method. If you believe the person is truly flamebaiting, then you should be able to clearly and persuasively articulate this point in his thread. If you cannot put forth a decent argument that the OP really is trolling, then perhaps he isn't trolling and maybe you are butthurt. Indeed, this method will cause you to think about whether your disdain towards certain threads are founded in reason or biased emotion.
It's best to do this as peacefully as possible, so as to not be moderated yourself. Again, if you are right the OP is flaming, then you should be able to illustrate this point without breaking any rules. I find that this method can be effective discouragement to the OP as he will know that future acts of flaming will be called out immediately for all to see. Eventually the user will get tired of being publicly called out and hopefully the frequency of flaming will decrease and/or eventually the mods notice and step in.
