As long as people manipulate BBS (bulletin board system) and other Web systems, unilateral voices, which do not represent true public opinion, will keep flowing into online forums.

Many people may argue that the more extreme a social issue, the better solution and treatment it would receive on Internet forums, such as forcible demolitions, which sparked heated debates among online communities across the country.

This may give people an impression that petition through the Internet works more effectively than that through snail mails and visits. Wang, however, says that may not necessarily be the case.

Look at what has been happening. Driven by companies' urge to make more profit, "cyber marines", or Internet commentators hired by online public relations (PR) companies, began mushrooming five years ago. Today, they have grown in numbers and scale both. Among other things, their employers use them to concoct public opinion to slander their business rivals.

This has disturbed public order, as was evident in the scandal involving two Chinese dairy giants. One of the dairy companies collaborated with a PR company to slander its biggest rival by posting a series of fabricated news online and then making hired "cyber marines" discuss the issue agitatedly to keep the postings on top of some well-known online forums.

Lack of proper supervision makes it possible for some netizens to twist the voices of grassroots people or take advantage of them.

That's why it's important to have regulations to thoroughly clean up online PR companies that are distorting public opinion.

Under the given circumstances, people cannot follow online opinions blindly. Governments, on their part, can solicit public opinions but they have to treat these views rationally because not all of them are true.