I like forums because writing out and reading written responses often provides for a richer understanding. Talking about the same issues with my offline friends, it's often easy to miss out on important details that I could have brought up, and by the time we see each other next we're already speaking about a different topic. I'm sure it happens with them too. In forums, however, you can continue a conversation just by checking back on the same thread and responding, thus eliminating the possibility of missing out on some details just because you aren't forced to get it all out in one spot, which like I said, I think makes for a richer conversational experience to some degree.