The Internet is great for information and light-hearted banter but not necessarily discussion. Most discussions are plagued by trolling, astroturfing, brigading

The Internet is great for information and light-hearted banter but not necessarily discussion. Most discussions are plagued by trolling, astroturfing, brigading and gratuitous rudeness. Anonymity is important but it also allows pointless discussions and arguments between let's say a child or someone not interested or versed in a subject and an expert. The value of discussion remain low and people behave in ways they simply wouldn't face to face. In the real world these kind of discussions would be a pointless waste of time for all involved and would simply not happen. You could try to change this by taking away the anonymity or extremely strong moderation but as we have seen with Facebook and even here the lack of anonymity doesn't stop snarky or bad behavior and there are far too many people who by default assume a tone of authority when they don't really know what they are talking about.