Content can be censored, removed or otherwise controlled by the designer or those who own the site. Most Web sites are intended to sell, entertain, inform, influence or persuade those who log onto them. Despite all the hype about interactivity, Web browsers are also largely responsible for transforming the Net into a relatively passive medium, considerably less active than claimed by those who celebrate the Web as a spectacular breakthrough in interactivity. Users need only point and click their mice, much like the proverbial couch potatoes point and click their television remotes. Were it not for the invention of the Web browser we doubt that the Internet ever would have become a truly mass medium.
Web pages are far more suitable to a mass audience than are text-based conversations.
It takes less effort to flit from presentation to presentation as the spirit moves you than to engage in a conversation. Participating in a conversation often requires initiative and attentiveness, whether on the Internet or in the real world. Third Voice promises to bring back a sense of spontaneity and freedom to the Net, which the Web's structured presentations seem to have dissipated. Impromptu discussions can arise at any Web site, beyond the control of the site's owners or designers. These discussions can be fully public, or they can be restricted to members of particular groups, such as students enrolled in a course, subscribers to a journal, or residents of real world neighborhoods or communities.