13.2 :-) Anthony to Thomas' intro

Hhmmm ... how do I attack this when I am of the mind of both a "proposer" and "opposer"? Or more accurately, I am of the mind of a certain fictional character that I read once who said: gray is the color of reality. There is no black and white to most situations. The same is true when it comes to online discourse. On one hand, online discourse affords the individual the ability to take their time and to make a more fully thought out response (my response here for example is a third draft and at this point is completely re-written from my original thought which I would have communicated in verbal discourse without the opportunity of editing), while on the other hand it is easier to ignore an online post than someone looking you in the eye. While it is not easy to see where posting has increased the quality of the message not having the verbal discourse to compare it to (or the drafts), the latter can easily be seen by looking at the messages posted and their replies for the ones where the poster was ignored. Even with that significant negative in mind, I do feel the ability to stop and think before responding as well as the ability to reread a post, research your answer, etc., outweigh the lack of interactiveness due to individual participation. Even when F2F you're not guaranteed to get a quality response and thus you may just as well have been ignored.

• 13.2.1 :-? Jennifer
• 13.2.4 :-) Bobbie
• 13.2.5 :-) Lynn