Re: Netnews: The Origin Story

On Wed, 6 Nov 2024, Wolfgang Agnes wrote:

Rich <rich@example.invalid> writes:
>

D <nospam@example.net> wrote:

This is the truth!  As a thought experiment I sometimes think about
how I would be able to handle usenet if it had 10x the nr of posts,
and I don't think I would.

>
Been there, seen that....  Circa 1995 (I forget which groups now) the
text posting volume was so great in the few groups I was following that
it was not possible to keep up.  I was always behind, and falling
further behind each day.  Eventually the fall behind problem reached a
point where I decided to just drop out.  So I disappeared for a good
ten years or so.  Of course, when I did return again, Usenet was a
shadow of its former self as far as text posting rates go.
>

It would have to be either a laser focus on a very small nr of
groups, or aggressive filtering of the subject lines.

>
One did have to do both, and even so, the volume was impossible to keep
up with if the group was at all active.

>
That's right.  This gives me the idea that a community should not really
be that large.  On the other hand, I do think the size we are right now
could be enlarged a bit.

But where can we do our recruitment? I'm the only one I know who is using usenet. The more avant garde are on mastodon.