Grabill, Jeffrey T., and Stacey Pigg. "Messy rhetoric: Identity performance as rhetorical agency in online public forums." Rhetoric Society Quarterly 42.2 (2012): 99-119.

This essay explores interaction in a large online public forum, addressing methodological and conceptual challenges of studying rhetorical activity in such spaces. It highlights how engagement in open digital environments is often nonlinear and fragmented. The authors examine the role of identity in these discussions, arguing that identity performances serve as forms of rhetorical agency that facilitate and direct conversation in forums like Science Buzz.