I sometimes wonder if forums will eventually end up like second life style virtual realities, where folks interact using avatars capable of relaying the kind of visual cues that the textual domain limits. Thing is, those avatars would need to be able to represent the poster without the complications of either eroding their anonymity, or provoking unhelpful visual judgments.

I think a venue like PC fills a need that other forms of social media & specifically, real life professional interactions cannot address - a good balance of anonymity / security / actual experience & empathy.