Messages can be posted anonymously. This discussion has 13 experts from around the globe and a class from Washington State participating. Participants can select a topic to comment on. It uses Hypermail, and it has automatic archiving. A web page, which requires a userid and password, can be used to create new forums.
Authorized instructors can create their own forums without having to contact system administrators.
The course discussions are integrated with other Internet services. For example, a button on the discussion page will take you to the home page for the course. Similarly, instead of students having to check the discussion page to see if anything is happening, the software sends to the listserv for the class a daily notification containing a summary of messages posted. These forums facilitate discussion of papers. The papers can be uploaded.