Re: Usenet (was: Re: Royal Back of Canada Phish coming from Google Gmail)

Sam  <sam@email-scan.com> wrote:

>
The reason for Usenet's death spiral is that it was marginally more 
cumbersome and difficult to participate in Usenet than it was to click a 
URL. Also, a lot of Usenet's engagement was a side effect of alt.binaries. A 
lot came for the pr0n and warez, and then also took a look at other things 
while they were there. This worked until more efficient means of 
distributing pr0n and warez became popular. That, and the developing 
idiocracy is what doomed Usenet.

I think that really has little to do with it, I think it is entirely the
result of the developing idiocracy.

Back in the eighties I thought it would be absolutely wonderful if the
net could be extended to everyone in the world.  Usenet gives people a
voice... but the problem is that most people don't have anything to say
and yet they say it anyway.  Once the floodgates were open, the people
who DID have something to say mostly left.

And THEN of course there was this huge backlash started by Cyrus Vance, Jr.
who saw attacking it as a political tool.  That pretty much put it to bed.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."