One of the hallmarks of online learning is that students can engage in deeper discussion than they can in most face-to-face courses due to the additional think-time for crafting posts and responding to others. But many online instructors report disappointment in class discussions because students post perfunctory and repetitive responses meant more to satisfy the course requirements than to move the discussion forward. While there are various reasons for poor online discussions, here I look at how the rules instructors give to students often undermine discussion and possible alternative to those rules.