Online discussion is a relatively new form of communication, facilitated usually by computer networks. The first such communications were on bulletin board systems or "BBS's" in the mid to late 1980s. As networks became more sophisticated, and access to said networks became easier (such as through universities and "dial-up" access), networks like USENET hosted an immense range of discussions. In the early 1990s, Internet relay chat became (and remains) popular. With the advent of the World wide web (WWW), myriad web forums have become new forums for discussion. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A computer network is a system for communication between computers. ... Ward Christensen and the first public Bulletin Board System, CBBS A Bulletin Board System or BBS is software that allows users to connect to the computer system on which the software is installed. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... In telecommunication, the term dial-up has the following meanings: Dial-up access, typically to the Internet A service feature in which a user initiates service on a previously arranged trunk or transfers, without human intervention, from an active trunk to a standby trunk. ... Usenet is a distributed Internet discussion system that evolved from a general purpose UUCP network of the same name. ... See also 1990s, the band Germans dancing on the Berlin Wall in late 1989, the symbol of the cold war divide falls down as the world unites in the 1990s. ... IRC redirects here. ... The Web and WWW redirect here. ... Gaia Online, the largest English language forum-based community as of April 2005 — powered by a modified version of phpBB. An Internet forum is a web application which provides for discussion, often in conjunction with online communities. ...

Online discussion groups tend to have a social element to them similar to a clique. There are generally established leaders (perhaps the owner of the medium the communication travels across), as well as more and less frequent communicators (or "posters"). Additionally, a discussion of the social properties of online discussion would not be complete without mention of the internet troll. These social networks can be very dynamic, can contain many thousands of members, and can even originate swarms such as the 1999 Seattle protests. A clique (pronounced AmE , BrE ) is an informal and restricted social group formed by people who share common interests (formal social groups are referred to as societies or organizations). ... A Do not feed the troll image In Internet terminology, a troll is someone who comes into an established community such as an online discussion forum, and posts inflammatory, rude, repetitive or offensive messages designed intentionally to annoy or antagonize the existing members or disrupt the flow of discussion, including... The Smart mob is a concept introduced by Howard Rheingold in his book Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution. ... Protest activity surrounding the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999, which was to be the launch of a new millennial round of trade negotiations, occurred on November 30, 1999, when the World Trade Organization (WTO) convened in Seattle, Washington, USA. The negotiations were quickly overshadowed by massive and controversial street protests...