"worm food" <***@compostpunk.com> wrote in message news:ts9740$1he32$***@dont-email.me...
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Post by worm foodPost by OldbieOneTop posters killed USENET 1.0, fam....
I will bottom only for you, my dearheart.
Would you believe it's not the first time I've heard that? It's usually from people's moms though.
Post by worm foodI would like to continue this conversation. In no particular order, I
have amassed several points of discussion from this and other threads I
Okay. GO!
Post by worm food1) "We haven't abandoned. We're lurking..." Yes, I had guess that this
would be the case. My question: what sort of event would qualify as so
goshdarn interesting that it would cause lurkers to materialize and
participate?
Great question. I don't actually know that there's a single answer to this question.
USENET wasn't killed by social media, as is the usual commentary seen on YouTube, it was killed before the rise of
social media. I'd even argue that the rise of social media was because of the death of USENET.
ISP's used to offer USENET access as part of their internet services, but came under increasing pressure by both
corporate interests, who were more interested in shutting down file sharing, and then western governments, who leaned on
providers out of an interest in national security in a post-9/11 world.
One thing that seems to be causing a mini-resurgance in USENET usage right now, is the state of late-stage social media.
FarceB0rk and ***@tter are in shambles, Tumblr is practically dead already as a result of their content bans, and TikTok
is facing being legislated out of existence in the western marketplace. Somehow, USENET lives on, even though it's a
mere shell of its former self. I think the impending failure of social media will mean that we'll see further increasing
usage of USENET.
One major stumbling point will be ease of access. It's no longer a service provided at the internet access provider
level, as you know, and most of the services are based in the EU or outside of the United States, where the highest
number of users used to be located. Other impediments to exponential growth are that it's costs money for USENET access,
and that clients also have a cost associated with them, and that people in general largely haven't heard of USENET
outside of those of us old enough to remember it, so unless USENET became freely available, binary groups and all, I
don't see it ever regaining the levels of popularity that it once had.
Of course, if those challenges were addressed, and slick mobile apps were created, tied to cloud file storage, I don't
see why it couldn't. At the end of the day, no one will spend the money to do that if there's no money to be made from
it, so I don't ever see that happening.
Post by worm food2) (Based on multiple conversations in multiple groups) there appears to
be a 50/50 split between those who think we should create new groups and
those who think we should refurbish old ones (my vote is for
"alt.christnet.beanie-babies"). Pros and cons? GO!
Personally, I'm on the fence. If there's a resurgence of Beanie Baby collectors, then I feel they should use the old
groups for that. For newer technologies, I think the creation of new groups makes sense. For example, have you seen the
traffic in alt.comp.os.windows-11?
Pros of reusing old groups: They already exist if what you want to post is under the topic of the group
Cons: I can't think of any, as long as what you want to post is under the topic of the group.
Pros of creating new groups: New groups would better fit newer topics and technologies that do not currently exist on
USENET.
Cons: I can't think of any.
Post by worm food3) How CAN we join forces? What might that look like?
It depends. The darkside has always offered cookies. Do you like cookies? If you do, come to the darkside, my friend!
Post by worm food4) Do we believe there is still a spark of the "old culture"? Is it
better to create a new, mutant culture?
I think right now the majority of users are here as keepers of the old USENET culture, to a large degree. But as new
people come in, that culture will mutate organically. I don't think one creates a culture, but a culture creates itself.
If USENET is still here in another 10 yrs, I think it will be completely different than it is now.
Post by worm food5) The idea of "finding new ways to make ["old" technology] relevant" is
an interesting one. Particularly in our current moment. For Usenet
specifically, what might that look like?
It looks like this. We're having this discussion right here, using an old technology that pre-dates the world wide web
and social media platforms, by decades.
Post by worm food6) "The decentralization of information is the enemy of corporate
profits and control." Agreed. But my feeling is that the small pockets
of interesting information (by "interesting" I mean literally anything
that is not "CONTENT"
Content does not have to be driven by capitalism, or any other political thought or doctrine. The free flow of
information without capital or government regulation allows for true community content.
Think of each newsgroup as it's own community, and the data within as "content".
Post by worm food(i.e., driven by capitalism) or "central dogma"
(i.e., driven by social mores)) that exist are SO decentralized that
almost no one who could possibly have an interest can find them. How
does one strike a balance here?
Now that IS a good question, but I feel that's something that would be better answered by a sociologis than an
old-school g33k ;)
Post by worm food7) "expanding OS functionality" This is a whole other conversation that
we should have. Not in this thread, though. In a different one.
I'm all ears.
Post by worm foodAnd before you ask whether I am some kind of grad student or other
classification with a clearly ulterior motive, I am not (although one
Why would anyone care?
Post by worm foodcan never prove a negative). My motive is that, I woke up one day and
said to myself "fuck this shit" and decided to dedicate some time and
effort to discussing these topics with like-minded individuals with
intent to actually do something. What is that something? That is the
point of the conversation.
To a large degree, the existence of USENET itself in 2023 is a testament to "fuck this shit" ;)
--
OldbieOne
The One Who Tells It Like It Is (TM)
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