You mean I can't erase it?

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I've taught the mechanics of participating in an online forum numerous times. Outside of the rather incongruous situation I find myself in - singing the praises of a-synchronous communication within a classroom setting in which it would make more sense to simply hold a face-to-face conversation - it's rather easy to get the basics across. Usually a couple of people are captivated by the possibilities of the technology, while the majority tend to ask why anyone might want to waste their time with a tool such as this. But after a couple of attempts at posting a message almost everyone invariably asks what they have to do in order to erase what they've posted. To some of these people, discovering that they can't erase anything, that what they've written is now a more or less permanent part of cyberspace, comes as more than a bit of a shock.

Actually, this response shouldn't be all that surprising. What little computer experience these people have is with a word processor, and erasing part, or all, of a document is easy. Why shouldn't they be able to do the same with a document which they've just posted to a forum? Realizing that there really is a difference is an enlightening experience.

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Go to: Thinking outloud, or
Go to: Now why would I want to do that?, or
Go to: on erasing an online forum.