Forums

Last week, Mark posted an article on his blog saying that he is a fan of forums. He asked us to react to his post and here is my reaction...
I do not know what to think about forums. I think it is a really good tool to communicate new ideas and other things like that, but I also think that it is not always a good idea to use forums. One can post anything he/she wants on a forum, it does not matter whether it is true or not. I see forums as a "more open" wikipedia. You surf through the forum, read many interesting ideas and some new information on subject but you have to keep in mind that some of this information can be not true or only partially true.
On the other hand, it is true that forums can be very helpful for some students. When one has a question about an assignment, he/she can ask the question on the forum and wait for an answer (that comes only after the deadline). I think that the most positive aspect of forums is that it stays on the internet, it stays easy accessible for everyone. One can go back on the forum 3 years latter to find answers to his/her questions.
Most of the time, I think that forums are good and very useful. The only thing wrong about forums is the information that is send that could be wrong, but that problem can always be over come by a genius administrator that asks the users to have a reference for every new information posted.