Can people debate online?

I have been looking at The Forum. It is supposed to be an on-line debating area - largely Australian. It appears to have a mix of participants.
It is split in two. There is a section for essays from various academic and journalistic types who might not get their work in anywhere else - and a chance for others to comment on that. There is another section where contributors can write up a paragraph or two and bring up an issue for debate.
The concept is good but, as always, there are individuals who fail to see that the idea is debate and not dissent without discussion. I think there is a difference. Some of the participants are not really participants at all. They behave more like the worst of our politicians.
I suspect that Kevin Rudd is going to be one of the latter. He is moving rapidly back to the future. Whatever is driving him (and his thoughts appear to be more and more confused) it is not doing the country any good. We need some clear headed, rational debate. The results may not, almost certainly will not, be what the union movement wants and the results may even make some members of the business sector unhappy. Unless you make some people unhappy you are probably not governing well. The difficulty is to make the right people unhappy and get the best results for everyone. Making the unions happy is not going to do that. They are stuck in the past.