Net Results Karlin LillingtonBoards.ie is nothing if not entertaining. Even if you don't want to vent your anger at Eircom, purchase a used PC monitor, discuss your rabbit's feeding requirements or argue about the merits of early versus late Van Morrison recordings, it's great fun to drop in on those who are passionate about these subjects and a plethora of others.

The website is a little microcosm - a whole range of interests of the Irish population boiled down into a range of daily discussions. It's one of the things I really like about this bulletin board site.

You can register and use the site for free and it's not just computer freaks or a buy-and-sell market or a film or music fan zone, it's a bit of everything, from social and political discussions to natters between hobbyists and enthusiasts of all sorts.

Personally, I enjoy reading the "prison" section, which comes under the "admin" menu on the site. That's where the moderators of the site send all the people they ban from the boards.

They're allowed to vent their spleen in prison, and it all makes for some pretty entertaining (and unexpurgated) reading - in a weird and twisted way - over your late morning coffee and biscuits break - in a weird and twisted way.

The Boards.ie site has also tried some unusual experiments. For example, there's a "commercial" section, where online merchants can open up a bulletin board shop.

The idea is that they can tell board users about special deals - but in exchange, they are thrown into the fray of discussion about their company and its products and services. It is customer service writ large - where everyone can view every exchange between company and consumer.

I'd imagine this can be terrifying but it also means buyers can choose merchants based on others' opinions and the response of the merchant to queries, problems and praise (there's a mix of all for each of the brave companies who've put themselves both online and on the line).

Now DeVore (the online name for the man who is the Grand Poobah and one of the founders of the site) has put into action an idea he had several months ago: an online debate section for Boards.ie.

Called "Debate!", the idea is to have a set of teams debate a topic of general interest, with a set of judges looking on and following the verbal cut and thrust.

Simultaneously, any Boards.ie member can comment on the debate in a separate area and heckle, cheer and generally add to the atmosphere.

There are three sections: one called "Ethos", a judges-only section where others can read what the judges say, but not post themselves; a "Logos" section, in which the actual, formal debate takes place among the teams; and "Pathos", the section open to the public for its say.

I've been getting some first-hand experience because DeVore asked me and my colleague, Sunday Tribune technology columnist Fergus Cassidy, to join him as judges for the very first debate.

The topic is: "That the government should compromise regarding the banning of smoking from pubs."

You can find it at: http://tinyurl. com/ytnfy (tinyurl.com is a very useful site that lets you reduce cumbersome urls into little trim ones).

It's been a fascinating experience and has worked much more entertainingly and efficiently than I would have guessed.

I had wondered if anyone would be interested in such a format - but the debate has a modest and enthusiastic audience for this first run of the idea.

Page reads for each contribution of the arguments have numbered between 60-ish to more than 200, and there's a pretty good discussion happening over in the Pathos section.

Some of the Pathos comments come from seasoned debaters who are picking apart the tactics of the teams, while others are offering opinions on the actual arguments made in the submissions from the teams.

While I am enjoying following the team arguments, I like this vox populi aspect.

Indeed, the whole idea of an online debate plays well to the strengths of the Web - it brings together communities; it fosters discussion, argument, strong feelings; and it lets anyone into the fray.

I like the fact that the formal debate format offers discipline and structure to the rough and tumble that normally happens on bulletin boards (and is sometimes a turn-off) while still allowing commentary from the sidelines.

This makes an online debate work very well - in contrast to the Guardian newspaper's occasional email debate between two people that it prints in full in its opinion section.

Although the debaters and topics are often very engaging, the back and forth tennis-game aspect of print makes it all a bit of a yawn.

The internet allows for that crucial element of a debate, interactivity. You are able to dive in and experience the debate as it is happening, rather than once it is all wrapped up and over.

We judges will have passed judgment on the teams and the debate will have drawn to a close by today, but the debate is there for viewing.

And DeVore has promised more to come.

Check it out - you might want to dive in yourself the next time around.

klillington@irish-times.ie http://weblog.techno-culture.com