This allows you to configure the settings for the discussion areas, which are based on a program called wwwthreads. Since the discussion areas are part of the web server, you can't disable them without disabling the web server. And of course, you can't disable the web server because you need it in order to configure the NetWinder.
If you click on the word Configure next to Public Discussions, you will see the following page. The configuration page for Private Discussions is very similar, except that no Edit Users option is available.
You have the following configuration options:
Create Forum. This allows you to add a new discussion forum, in which users can post messages.
Edit Posts. As the administrator, you are allowed to remove or modify any messages that someone posts on a forum, to remove obscenity for example.
Edit Forum Properties. You can change various features of your forums with this option.
Delete Forum. This will let you wipe out an entire forum and all of its messages, once it has exhausted its usefulness.
Edit Users. You can change the list of users who are allowed to access the public discussion server.