85 lines
3.6 KiB
Markdown
85 lines
3.6 KiB
Markdown
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---
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tags: [networks, internet]
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created: Tuesday, November 12, 2024
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---
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# Usenet
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A decentralised system of computer servers that allowed users to post messages
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to topic-based discussion groups called "newsgroups" which other users could
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read and reply to.
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Arguably the first social network and the oldest internet network that is still
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operational.
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It was designed by staff at two separate universities. Both used Unix systems
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and wanted a way to communicate with each other.
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## Technology
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Usenet comprised a [distributed network](385af4b4_Baran_distributed_networks.md)
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of dedicated servers that exchanged messages over the **Network News Transfer
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Protocol** (NNTP).
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A user would post a message to their local news server. The server would assign
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it a UUID and then share it with other peer servers that it was connected to,
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who would also share it, repeating the process. This created a ripple effect
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that would propagate the message over the global network. Because of the
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distributed nature of this network it meant that messages would have a high
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longevity and retention rate and that it was effectively impossible to delete a
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message once posted, since it would be stored across a multitude of servers.
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## Relation to the Internet
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Usenet developed separately and in parallel with the Internet. Originally it did
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not operate over the Internet: servers would connect to each other over phone
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lines using the Unix-to-Unix Copy Protocol. In the late 1980s when the Internet
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became more widespread and not just limited to DARPA-adjacent universities,
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Usenet transitioned to running over
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[TCP/IP](Transport_Layer_of_Internet_Protocol.md) networks.
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## Newsgroup hierarchy
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Usenet used a structured, dot-separated naming system for newsgroups that got
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more specific with each subdivision, e.g:
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- comp.sys.mac
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- sci.physics.particle
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- alt.music.nirvana
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Users would subscribe to the newsgroups that interested them and their
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newsreader (which connected to the servers) would only download messages from
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these groups.
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## Influence
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- Created the concept of threaded discussions in its reply structure
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- Reddit appropriated the concept of topic-based communities in its sub-reddits
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and also used threading
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- RSS adopted Usenet's model of subscribing to specific information sources and
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getting updates: the concept of "pulling" new content from feeds mirrors how
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newsreaders worked
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- Distributed social networks like Mastodon/ActivityPub use a similar
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server-to-server propagation model that Usenet pioneered
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- [BitTorrent's](Torrenting.md) distributed file-sharing model has similarities
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to how binary files were distributed across Usenet servers
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## "Eternal September"
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For most of its early history Usenet was limited to university students whose
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university was part of the network. Each September new students would join the
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university and this led to an influx of inexperienced Usenet users who didn't
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yet know the etiquette and culture. They would have to be schooled and inducted.
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In the mid-1980s Usenet became accessible to the general public as ISPs started
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granting access. In 1993-1994, AOL granted access to subscribers. This changed
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the nature of discussions from primarily academic and technical topics to
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include more general interest and entertainment content, leading to the creation
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of the "alt." hierarchy which allowed anyone to create new newsgroups without
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formal approval processes that were required in the traditional hierarchies.
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Hence it was "always September".
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This phrase is often used as a shorthand for the way in which the Internet and
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Web has moved from a niche community of technical users to a demotic public
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space with an attendant decline in perceived value.
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