Hi, Lee Lofaso!   
   I read your message from  18.08.2013 02:53   
   about Still holding the fort..   
      
      
    JF>>> need road signs every ten feet are left confused. Piece of art?   
    JF>>> Are we having a discussion or admiring text?   
      
    ak>> A discussion text must look nice, too. Especially, a good quoting   
    ak>> is important when a discussion is written by many persons. In this   
    ak>> case it is important to see clearly the authorship of every   
    ak>> paragraph, every line, because it is very important to shorten   
    ak>> opponents phases as much as possible, so that all the discussion   
    ak>> was before your eyes. That is why, despite what you had said, you   
    ak>> cannot find in web forums an example of a long, deep, clever   
    ak>> discussion -- only the discussions that sound like dog's barking   
    ak>> or sparrow's twitting.   
      
    LL> The form of debate most frequently used in fidonet forums is   
    LL> didactic, rather than a true discussion or exchange of ideas in   
    LL> essay form. The software used makes it easy to quote and delete   
    LL> whatever text one wants to include or exclude. I am not saying that   
    LL> this is the best form of debate. Only that it is the most   
    LL> convenient, given the software and means of communication.   
      
      It is not a superb form, but if we compare it with web forum   
   discussions it is a much better form.   
      
    ak>> In other words, the conferences like this one is an ideal place   
    ak>> for discussions.   
      
    LL> It can be. Not that it is. Much is dependent on the participants   
    LL> themselves. Along with the moderator/facilitator.   
      
      It depends mostly on how long participants are keen to discuss   
   something. Actually, an average person lives in discussion echos several   
   years an then gets bored. Then a new generation must come. If it doesn't   
   come it means that the process is either difficult or a young generation   
   doesn't need deep, good quoted discussions at all. Probably it hasn't   
   free time because they play around the clock.   
      
      Although, BTW, in the Internet there are a lot of dead forums, too.   
      
    ak>> But unfortunately people on Earth have changed.   
      
    LL> We eat better. We put on nicer clothes. Most men shave, along with   
    LL> some women. People continue to have sex, with others as well as   
    LL> themselves. And sometimes within oh never mind there are no gays   
    LL> and lesbians in Russia...   
      
      Why, there are a lot of them; it is not a crime in Russia, I assure   
   you.   
      
   Bye, Lee!   
   Alexander Koryagin   
   fido7.debate 2013   
      
   --- FIDOGATE 5.1.7ds   
    * Origin: Pushkin's BBS (2:5020/2140.2)