An indepth intellectual discussion may be rare offline and its even rarer on forums. The very nature of message board conversation tends to make you partisan and cut out the niceties and "I agree but.." and "but what do you think about.." like phrases. What makes forums different from face2face conversation is that it makes us assertive rather than perceptive, but as a side effect, a purpose does get served . that of increasing variety and diversity of thought rather than depth.