In the FidoNet, The Well, and Compuserve Forum days, when two people starting having a private debate or personal conversation publicly, we would tell them to TakeItToEmail. Note that not TakingItToEmail? along with those that enjoy public spleen-venting helped give FidoNet the diminutive moniker fight-o-net.
And still, Fidonet, Compuserve, GEnie, The Well, CBBS (aka the Ward Board), and many other venues contained much valuable content and interaction with other technoweenies. Most of that content was later superseded by technical advances including the Internet itself, but the communities that evolved from those BBS hosts have never been fully duplicated, even today.
See: FidonetRules, WhyWikiWorks, WhyWikiWorksNot, DissertationOverDiscourse