Subj : Re: Computers
To   : MIKE POWELL
From : tenser
Date : Thu Aug 01 2024 21:27:18

On 30 Jul 2024 at 09:44a, MIKE POWELL pondered and said...
 
 MP> ³ Once I got access to the Internet, I found the technical
 MP> ³ discussion content I'd been looking for, and then I started
 MP> ³ to wonder why anyone would care about the endless flame
 MP> ³ wars and "big personalities" on fight-o-net.  The silly
 MP> ³ "rules" imposed by sysops on local BBSes seemed strange once
 MP> ³ I realized they didn't have any content I cared about.
 MP> ÀÄ[T=>PF]
 MP>  
 MP> While I cannot disagree that the content wasn't better for certain
 MP> topics, most Internet discussion boards and email lists have rules
 MP> that are just as restrictive... and much easier to enforce.

Internet "discussion boards" on the web weren't really
a thing yet when I started using the Internet.  For that
matter, neither was the web.  And while some mailing
lists were moderated, many were not; civility was promoted
via cultural norms, which in retrospect couldn't survive,
but at the time seemed like a huge step forward from the
"you will respect my authoritah!" of the BBS world.

 MP> Usenet, OTOH, was more of a wild west that had more participants (in some
 MP> areas) but also more fighting.

See above: cultural norms that were valued by the community
as a whole kept things largely civil.  They were doomed from
the start, but it was a wonderfully heady thing while they
lasted.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
 * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)

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