The Internet is, perhaps, the world's most available discussion forum, and yet it isn't free from problems:

In 2001, anyone with a modem and Internet access can participate in an electronic forum, and anyone with an anonymous e-mail account can shield his or her true identity. That makes for a lot of 'Timmie Tees' (the nom de Web of Tim Thomson, a 48-year-old real estate broker and father of one from near Phoenix who wreaked havoc in cyberspace by using offensive language and has been suspended or expelled from online communities at least 40 times). On huge services like AOL, and smaller forums like Café Utne and Salon.com's Table Talk, a small but vocal group of folks are having a blast manipulating their online personas and exercising their First Amendment rights. But they are also creating a huge headache for virtual communities. High-traffic websites must hire costly moderators and customer-service representatives to quell disturbances caused by personal attacks, spamming off-topic posting, obscenities and, not infrequently, bashing of the moderators themselves. AOL, for example, enlists more than 10,000 users to help monitor online behavior, and it pays staff members to supervise these volunteers.

Source: D. Feldman, "Chat room exiles." On Monthly (Time Special Issue), February 15, 2001, pp. 65-67.

1		How common do you think are personal attacks, spamming off-topic posting, obscenities, and the bashing of moderators at chat room or electronic bulletin-board sites?
2		Do you think chat room and electronic bulletin-board sites are important for establishing communities and creating small-group discussions?
3		How can troublemakers be expelled from Internet small-group discussions?