The rise and fall of Usenet: How the original social media platform came to be 50 years ago
Long before Facebook existed, or even before the Internet, there was Usenet. Usenet was the first social network. Now, with Google Groups abandoning Usenet, this oldest of all social networks is doomed to disappear.
These days, Usenet’s content is almost e ...continues
@mms As someone who enjoyed many a #BBS at 300 bps in the early 80s and #USENET in the early 90s, I can honestly tell you that the #Fediverse is a worthy spiritual heir to both.
Google announcing that it will drop #Usenet support from Google Groups gave me a reason to write a short version of the Usenet eulogy I've had in the back of my mind for the last couple of decades.
(Yes, I am not only old enough to remember Usenet but to have written about the Green Card Lawyers early on in my time at the Post. They did not appreciate the coverage, and one of them--Martha Siegel, if I recall--vaguely threatened me with a lawsuit before doing nothing.) https://www.pcmag.com/news/end-of-an-era-google-groups-to-drop-usenet-support
The sad state of my quest for a Usenet NNTP GUI client for Linux.
Pan is awesome but the binaries of my Debian Bullseye based distro, Crostini, are ancient and buggy. The Pan project distributes no .deb or other packages. Building from source requires recent versions of tools not in Bullseye.
Very few other GUI options available. Even fewer with .deb or other binaries.
rn I'm doing a lot of research on early internet fandom for my bachelor thesis and since I was born after the turn of the millennium it's making me wonder how it must have been to be a fan on the internet when Usenet and ICQ/IRC/AIM and GeoCities were still a thing. It really feels like having some kind of lost nostalgia, I've only lived to see early facebook, msn and flipnote as my early internet interactions.
If you were a fan on the internet in the late 90's / early 00's, or know someone that was, please hit me up!! I'd love to have a chat about it!!
(please boost for coverage)
Effective from 15 February 2024, Google Groups will no longer support new Usenet content. Posting and subscribing will be disallowed, and new content from Usenet peers will not appear. Viewing and searching of historical data will still be supported as it is done today.
"Starting on February 22, 2024, you can no longer use Google Groups (at groups.google.com) to post content to Usenet groups, subscribe to Usenet groups, or view new Usenet content. You can continue to view and search for historical Usenet content posted before February 22, 2024 on Google Groups."
> Starting on February 22, 2024, you can no longer use #GoogleGroups (at groups.google.com) to post content to Usenet groups, subscribe to Usenet groups, or view new Usenet content. You can continue to view and search for historical Usenet content posted before February 22, 2024 on #Google Groups.
Not surprising news for gray-haired social-media veterans, but it still has end-of-an-era vibes: Google Groups to drop most #Usenet support on Feb. 22, keeping only a read-only archive of pre-2/22/2024 posts. https://support.google.com/groups/answer/11036538
Let it be clear (at least for myself to myself) : I am on #mastodon to escape #facebook and #twitter socially, economically and politically toxic ecosystems. I don't know what my instance will do but I will block #threads
I really hope the #tootcommunity at least discusses about this.
I know some rejoice of Meta "joining the choir" of Federation. I want Meta to wither and die and be replaced by the Fedi. Because that company is evil.
That was my #selfrighteous post of the day thank you ! 😘
@jorijn@darth_anxious
1/3 My history in "Social Media" is #usenet and #IRC. I always avoided big corporations when possible, especially USA based ones. So, for me no #facebook, #instagram, #whatsapp, #twitter, #x, #microsoft subscriptionware etc..
Because it is increasingly hard to have relations with banks and government without one, I only make an exception for a smartphone. Sadly, it is almost imossible to have one without "selling ones soul" to either #google or #apple .
The really fun part about a one-way feed from Meta Threads to #Mastodon is that when you see total disinformation from there, you can't reply or comment in any other way back to the post. It's just a one-way vomitus feed.
Will they ever permit replies back? I assume eventually, but they will want to very tightly moderate and control those, because they won't want to be inundated with CSAM and other garbage that flows forth from various Mastodon sites.
@lauren
Google is apparently disconnecting from usenet soon. Just seen as a posting from someone else:
"Effective February 15, 2024, Google Groups will no longer support new Usenet content. Posting and subscribing will be disallowed, and new content from Usenet peers will not appear. Viewing and searching of historical data will still be supported as it is done today."
#usenet still lives but on various occasions has been a source of spam (apparently currently happening). Whether losing Google will be ultimately good or bad is yet to be seen.
I think it's cool if you wanna personally block Meta-run instances, or if your server declines to federate with Threads.
I am personally interested to see how the mass-federation of Tumblr, Threads, WordPress, etc. pans out.
I also think it would be good for Meta, Google, etc. to provide (paid or ad-supported) fedi services to people who want to run their own communities but could use assistance with the technical, moderation, or compliance parts of the process.
To be clear, since I’ve described the #Fediverse as if #Usenet and a methadone clinic got married, and had a love child, I don’t trust a heroin dealer.
Tiens, je vous propose une petite expérience : j'ai ressorti des étagères ce Guide des meilleurs sites Web, édition 2000, paru chez Microsoft Press il y a de cela 23 ans.
Je vous propose de l'explorer page par page au cours des mois qui viennent et de découvrir combien des sites listés sont encore accessibles.
D'abord parce que ça va m'occuper, ensuite par curiosité, et avoir une idée de la portion du Web qui a survécu à ses 23 dernières années.
Après les emails, ce sont les forums de discussion et autres newsgroups qui sont abordés dans le Guide des meilleurs sites.
Et la page 34 du guide aborde justement l'utilisation de #Usenet, les plateformes permettant d'y accéder, les annuaires de groupes et les autres guides autour de cette technologie.
Peu de suspens, ici tout est quasiment mort, en erreur ou squatté par des entreprises dont le travail est tout autre.
Seul le domaine Deja.com survit, redirigé vers... Google Groups.
This is annecdata - not a serious academic study. Adjust your expectations accordingly. When I first got online, the World Wide Web was still in its infancy - so CompuServe was my gateway to the Internet. I loved their well organised chat room. A couple of clicks and I could be discussing Babylon 5 with […]