Compared to the postings on hate sites, for example, the messages are pretty tame, she notes. The Internet may mobilize people already predisposed to violence . . . Still, other Web forums have taken a stricter approach to online regulation. If they've posted a message on 'why do black people stink,' my attitude is, let's not even go there. The people who are the most passionate start butting heads, and then the people who really want to talk don't want to stay there.
Visitors come and leave quickly, without ever really engaging in a debate or conversation.
Groups like Web Lab are building new kinds of Web forums designed to foster a more useful debate. According to David Weiner of the Benton Foundation, most Web forums fail because they lack careful planning. If you just make a Web site where you can say anything you please, you are not making use of a powerful medium to do what it does best, he says. All we're seeing is television or talk radio by another name. First they should do no harm, and a lot of sites out there are doing a lot of harm.