Anyway, to the question at hand. To take the question literally "...do you think it is a good thing to have a place where writers can talk?" Sure, something like a coffee house, a special room in a book store, around someone's den <grin> would be a good place. But the Internet? I don't think so for a number of reasons. People can be immature on the 'net, stubborn, aggressive, nasty - even if they're not typically like that in person. The veil of the 'net seems to give people the right to quit being civilized to one another, to stop being courteous, polite, considerate. Also, because the relationships on the 'net aren't generally as deep or personal as in person, it becomes very easy to dismiss what others say out of hand, without regard that there is a person who holds such-and-such opinion very deeply (as deeply as you do).

Also, there is the issue of nuiance, inflection, feeling, meaning that gets lost through internet communication. Sarcasm, flippant remarks, even passionate pleas can lose their true meaning when read on-line, through the filters of the reader, without the ability for instant clarification. Hell, the possibility for misunderstanding is increased exponentially over the ether.

For these reasons I think an open, no structure, anything goes on-line forum isn't the greatest thing. My experience they just degenerate to slinging rhetoric, unyielding opinions, misunderstandings, short tempers and occassionally clarification, understanding, and appologies (though less often than not).

I've seen them moderated, but then the moderator becomes an issue - she's taking sides, he's being a fascist by closing a topic, she doesn't understand...

I love the age group or obviously I wouldn’t teach that age. But---in an Internet forum many people feel that they are anonymous thus the need for a moderator to say ok this has gone far enough. On one forum, loosely moderated, I had a guy go after me because he thought I was a. full of **it, didn’t know what I was talking about, thought I had been unfair in an assessment of a small bit of his writing—it quickly boiled down to I was dumb bast---(he thought I was male), and so on.

DO writers need a place to talk and share and vent and cry --- YES. But it does need to be moderated. I have tried many debates in my classes and they quickly become mud slinging contests. “Oh, yeah right, that’s so ghetto man.” “You just think you’re a valley girl.” <followed by bad imitations of a squeaky voice.> And so on—this is teens in action face to face. At that age, about 12-15 these young adults are just learning who they are, and that it is ok for others to be who they are. Hopefully they grow out of it. But as many boards have shown, even adults get this way when they are not face-to-face.

So back to the YES we need these boards. Not everyone has access to face-to-face writer's groups. I live in the boonies in Germany right now, for the past four years----without a group like this one and others I would be out of luck. The give and take can be great as long as everyone respects everyone’s IMHO option, which is just what the words are. Someone says, I quote this book—you can bet I look it up. I like the idea that writers can bounce ideas off each other and exchange what they know and what they feel with each other. Look at the post on e-publishing, adults I assume, some feel one way while others feel another. Hopefully on both sides thoughts were provoked. I get ideas for my next speaking engagement, I can say—the idea is still out there that—blah blah blah--- Hopefully I have opened an eye or two about the Internet and its value as a publishing option. What no wants to happen in such a debate is for people to go off the deep end screaming this isn’t true and you suck!

So, yes we need these forums and yes a writer can benefit from them but only if they have a moderator and those posting keep in mind that there are people behind the words and not just a keyboard and a computer. That’s why a moderator is needed—once the discussion has gone down the drain then the discussion or the forum is no longer of use. (Even after a thread has been ended I have had people “stalk” my e-mail with their continued ire against me)

Basically, I said that I felt that the 'Open Discussions' area in the YWW had gotten out of control, and that removing it was a good idea, but that I felt that it was only one step in the process of making the YWW a true writer's workshop. I brought up the point that there's more to a workshop than just discussing individual works, and that there are questions we as young writers need answered that none of us have the authority to answer.