Brains working towards machine consciousness

I agree with most of your points. I also think forums are great for many purposes, easier and more suited to develop discussions than blogs. Blogs require more time, more effort and more skills than forums, and most people simply won't be able to participate in conversations through them. It's good to have both. And I don't share the negative perspective of the course forums Stephen Downes has; I believe there is a lot of good material in them. CF is right when she points out that blogs are not doing a better job at developing the conversation in the course.

BUT:

- the problem with Catherine Fitzpatrick is not what she says or how much she contributes, but the fact that she sometimes chooses to behave as a troll and a bully, and then tries to divert the question into one of free speech and what-not, poses as a champion of the fee Internet, bla bla;
- she is offensive and intimidating, calling people names and saying that's OK in a discussion, labels people left and right (generally left :)) in a totally unfair and unfounded way, and then says people are thin-skinned, can't take a criticism and plays the victim;
- this is not a big deal for experienced Internet users, but can be a huge turn off for people who are not, driving them away from the discussion, and worse, developing a resistance and a inhibition to the use of ICT;
- there will always be big differences in forum participation, just as there are in blog posts - some people have more to say, say it better, are more committed, etc. It's a known fact that CF has pointed out several times that only a small percentage of people contribute to any community (and so in forums) while the majority lurk or post a lot less - no different from real life. So, I have no problems with that, in fact, I appreciate that some people take the time and effort to share and help things move forward;
- off topic is OK and can be valuable if you don't over do it and totally hijack a thread, turning it into a discussion about what concerns you and frustrating the topic starter's concerns. If you really feel you need to go on a different direction altogether, well, start your own thread to address that;
- forums should be moderated, always, they can not turn into a place where some people bully others around and seriously undermine what they are trying to do there. This is no different from what happens in any human communication context, be it a classroom, a conference, or blog comments - you don't have to (in fact, you shouldn't) bear with bullies. And if you are the person (one of the persons) organizing a course, a conference, a workshop, a meeting, etc., it's your responsibility to make sure people respect some basic social rules to make the environment safe (in a broad sense).

I welcome dissent and love a good argument/debate, but I loathe trolling and bullying (that's because I'm a teacher, I guess). A quick search on the Internet after the first interventions by CF showed that this is her MO: everywhere she goes she behaves like this. In fact, she seems to see this as a personal quest - she intentionally goes to places she is not interested in (like this course) to play this part. Go figure.

José Mota