Whilst I doubt there were many under-16's using UseNet, I have heard
some suggest that it is a "Social Media".
Facebook ... Sure!
X ... Sure!
Instagram .... Sure!
Youtube .... Some would suggest it is "Social Media", too.
... and there are probably others I can't think of or have Never heard of.
But is UseNet "Social Media"??
On 2/1/2026 4:21 PM, Daniel70 wrote:
Whilst I doubt there were many under-16's using UseNet, I have heard
some suggest that it is a "Social Media".
Facebook ... Sure!
X ... Sure!
Instagram .... Sure!
Youtube .... Some would suggest it is "Social Media", too.
... and there are probably others I can't think of or have Never heard
of.
But is UseNet "Social Media"??
Usenet is "fully duplex", so it's social media because you can
communicate with each others. :)
The same goes to Fidonet BBS.
Cross-posted to Linux and Win-11 NGs
As may here would be aware, last December, the Australian Government
brought in Legislation to limit the access to "Social Media" for those
under 16 years of age.
Whilst I doubt there were many under-16's using UseNet, I have heard
some suggest that it is a "Social Media".
Facebook ... Sure!
X ... Sure!
Instagram .... Sure!
Youtube .... Some would suggest it is "Social Media", too.
... and there are probably others I can't think of or have Never heard of.
But is UseNet "Social Media"??
Daniel70 <daniel47@nomail.afraid.org> writes:
Cross-posted to Linux and Win-11 NGs
As may here would be aware, last December, the Australian Government
brought in Legislation to limit the access to "Social Media" for those
under 16 years of age.
Whilst I doubt there were many under-16's using UseNet, I have heard
some suggest that it is a "Social Media".
Facebook ... Sure!
X ... Sure!
Instagram .... Sure!
Youtube .... Some would suggest it is "Social Media", too.
... and there are probably others I can't think of or have Never heard of. >>
But is UseNet "Social Media"??
In Australian lawn, yes. The definition is given in https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2024A00127/asmade/text section 63C and
Usenet clearly fits.
I think it would fit any reasonable informal definition of ‘social
media’ too.
On 1/02/2026 9:59 pm, Richard Kettlewell wrote:
Daniel70 <daniel47@nomail.afraid.org> writes:Yeap. 63C (1) does seem to cover it. Thank you.
Cross-posted to Linux and Win-11 NGs
As may here would be aware, last December, the Australian Government
brought in Legislation to limit the access to "Social Media" for those
under 16 years of age.
Whilst I doubt there were many under-16's using UseNet, I have heard
some suggest that it is a "Social Media".
Facebook ... Sure!
X ... Sure!
Instagram .... Sure!
Youtube .... Some would suggest it is "Social Media", too.
... and there are probably others I can't think of or have Never
heard of.
But is UseNet "Social Media"??
In Australian lawn, yes. The definition is given in
https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2024A00127/asmade/text section 63C and
Usenet clearly fits.
I think it would fit any reasonable informal definition of ‘social
media’ too.
Yeap, aware of that .... I just guessed that as UseNet was around forIn Hong Kong cantonese, the word "social" used to be a verb to mean
sooooo long before the others came into being, I just never associated
UseNet with "Social Media".
On 1/02/2026 8:38 pm, Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:
Never got into BBS's so couldn't possibly comment.
The same goes to Fidonet BBS.
On 2/1/2026 6:17 PM, Daniel70 wrote:
On 1/02/2026 8:38 pm, Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:
Never got into BBS's so couldn't possibly comment.
The same goes to Fidonet BBS.
Echomail is the technology used by Fidonet to run a distributed
messaging network like Usenet. Back then, it ran on top of dial-up
modems as slow as 1200 baud. Those were the days! :)
On 2/1/2026 4:21 PM, Daniel70 wrote:
Whilst I doubt there were many under-16's using UseNet, I have heard
some suggest that it is a "Social Media".
Facebook ... Sure!
X ... Sure!
Instagram .... Sure!
Youtube .... Some would suggest it is "Social Media", too.
... and there are probably others I can't think of or have Never heard of.
But is UseNet "Social Media"??
Usenet is "fully duplex", so it's social media because you can
communicate with each others. :)
The same goes to Fidonet BBS.
Cross-posted to Linux and Win-11 NGs
As may here would be aware, last December, the Australian Government
brought in Legislation to limit the access to "Social Media" for those
under 16 years of age.
Whilst I doubt there were many under-16's using UseNet, I have heard
some suggest that it is a "Social Media".
Facebook ... Sure!
X ... Sure!
Instagram .... Sure!
Youtube .... Some would suggest it is "Social Media", too.
... and there are probably others I can't think of or have Never heard of.
But is UseNet "Social Media"??
On Sun, 1 Feb 2026 19:21:52 +1100, Daniel70
<daniel47@nomail.afraid.org> wrote:
Cross-posted to Linux and Win-11 NGs
As may here would be aware, last December, the Australian Government
brought in Legislation to limit the access to "Social Media" for those
under 16 years of age.
Whilst I doubt there were many under-16's using UseNet, I have heard
some suggest that it is a "Social Media".
Facebook ... Sure!
X ... Sure!
Instagram .... Sure!
Youtube .... Some would suggest it is "Social Media", too.
... and there are probably others I can't think of or have Never heard of. >>
But is UseNet "Social Media"??
Usenet can be a social medium, and is sometimes used as such, if one
defines a socuial mediun as one through which people have social
intoercourse with one another. But the nechnical newsgroups are
certainly not social media, and some of the other ngs, though they may
have some social chitchat are not primarily social media.
"Usenet, conceived by Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis in 1979 at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University, was
the first open social media app, established in 1980."
So I guess that settles it once and for all! :-)
On Sun, 1 Feb 2026 19:21:52 +1100, Daniel70[...]
But is UseNet "Social Media"??
Usenet can be a social medium, and is sometimes used as such, if one
defines a socuial mediun as one through which people have social
intoercourse with one another. But the nechnical newsgroups are
certainly not social media, and some of the other ngs, though they may
have some social chitchat are not primarily social media.
How does the Australian legislation deine it?
On 2/1/2026 9:33 PM, Frank Slootweg wrote:
"Usenet, conceived by Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis in 1979 at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University, was
the first open social media app, established in 1980."
So I guess that settles it once and for all! :-)
"social media app"? Usenet was an "app"? I think it's a mistake. :)
Daniel70 <daniel47@nomail.afraid.org> writes:
Cross-posted to Linux and Win-11 NGs
As may here would be aware, last December, the Australian Government
brought in Legislation to limit the access to "Social Media" for those
under 16 years of age.
Whilst I doubt there were many under-16's using UseNet, I have heard
some suggest that it is a "Social Media".
Facebook ... Sure!
X ... Sure!
Instagram .... Sure!
Youtube .... Some would suggest it is "Social Media", too.
... and there are probably others I can't think of or have Never heard of. >>
But is UseNet "Social Media"??
In Australian lawn, yes. The definition is given in https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2024A00127/asmade/text section 63C and
Usenet clearly fits.
I think it would fit any reasonable informal definition of ‘social
media’ too.
On 02/01/2026 5:59 AM, Richard Kettlewell wrote:
Daniel70 <daniel47@nomail.afraid.org> writes:I would think that Newsgroups of this sort would not be included.
Cross-posted to Linux and Win-11 NGsIn Australian lawn, yes. The definition is given in
As may here would be aware, last December, the Australian Government
brought in Legislation to limit the access to "Social Media" for those
under 16 years of age.
Whilst I doubt there were many under-16's using UseNet, I have heard
some suggest that it is a "Social Media".
Facebook ... Sure!
X ... Sure!
Instagram .... Sure!
Youtube .... Some would suggest it is "Social Media", too.
... and there are probably others I can't think of or have Never heard of. >>>
But is UseNet "Social Media"??
https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2024A00127/asmade/text section 63C and
Usenet clearly fits.
I think it would fit any reasonable informal definition of ‘social
media’ too.
Section 63C of URL document
(2) For the purposes of subparagraph (1)(a)(i), online social
interaction includes online interaction that enables end‑users to
share material for social purposes.
FWIW, I already used/managed a NetNews/Usenet system in the early
80s. Used RFA (Remote File Access) before NFS (Network File System)
even existed and UUCP (Unix-to-Unix Copy) to receive/send articles
from/to other systems. And yes, the user used a *program* (called
'notes' [1])!
Cross-posted to Linux and Win-11 NGs
On 2/1/2026 9:33 PM, Frank Slootweg wrote:
"Usenet, conceived by Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis in 1979 at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University, was
the first open social media app, established in 1980."
So I guess that settles it once and for all! :-)
"social media app"? Usenet was an "app"? I think it's a mistake. :)
On 2/1/2026 6:17 PM, Daniel70 wrote:
In Hong Kong cantonese, the word "social" used to be a verb to mean
Yeap, aware of that .... I just guessed that as UseNet was around for
sooooo long before the others came into being, I just never associated
UseNet with "Social Media".
making relationship with others. :)
On 2026-02-01 13:34, Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:
On 2/1/2026 6:17 PM, Daniel70 wrote:
On 1/02/2026 8:38 pm, Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:
Never got into BBS's so couldn't possibly comment.
The same goes to Fidonet BBS.
Echomail is the technology used by Fidonet to run a distributed
messaging network like Usenet. Back then, it ran on top of dial-up
modems as slow as 1200 baud. Those were the days! :)
For some strange reason, Fidonet continued working in Rusia after it
stopped in Europe. They took over the development of software, too.
For a while at least, I could participate in Fidonet using internet
instead of a modem.
Then my uplink failed, his computer broke down and he gave up. Could--
not find another suitable node.
Mr. Man-wai Chang <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> wrote:
On 2/1/2026 4:21 PM, Daniel70 wrote:
Whilst I doubt there were many under-16's using UseNet, I have
heard some suggest that it is a "Social Media".
Facebook ... Sure!
X ... Sure!
Instagram .... Sure!
Youtube .... Some would suggest it is "Social Media", too.
... and there are probably others I can't think of or have Never
heard of.
But is UseNet "Social Media"??
Usenet is "fully duplex", so it's social media because you can
communicate with each others. :)
The same goes to Fidonet BBS.
The History section of Wikipedia's 'Social media' page starts with
the PLATO system and later says
"Usenet, conceived by Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis in 1979 at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University, was
the first open social media app, established in 1980."
So I guess that settles it once and for all! :-)
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media#History>
On 2/1/2026 9:24 AM, Frank Slootweg wrote:
FWIW, I already used/managed a NetNews/Usenet system in the early
80s. Used RFA (Remote File Access) before NFS (Network File System)
even existed and UUCP (Unix-to-Unix Copy) to receive/send articles
from/to other systems. And yes, the user used a *program* (called
'notes' [1])!
My Earthlink dialup subscription provided Usenet at the time which is
where I got hooked. I also frequented some bulletin boards. Good old
days...
On Sun, 1 Feb 2026 19:21:52 +1100, Daniel70
<daniel47@nomail.afraid.org> wrote:
Cross-posted to Linux and Win-11 NGs
As may here would be aware, last December, the Australian Government
brought in Legislation to limit the access to "Social Media" for those
under 16 years of age.
Whilst I doubt there were many under-16's using UseNet, I have heard
some suggest that it is a "Social Media".
Facebook ... Sure!
X ... Sure!
Instagram .... Sure!
Youtube .... Some would suggest it is "Social Media", too.
... and there are probably others I can't think of or have Never heard of. >>
But is UseNet "Social Media"??
Usenet can be a social medium, and is sometimes used as such, if one
defines a socuial mediun as one through which people have social
intoercourse with one another. But the nechnical newsgroups are
certainly not social media, and some of the other ngs, though they may
have some social chitchat are not primarily social media.
I had a mailing list, called "offtopic" which probably could fit
within the definition of a social medium -- it's for people to chat
about stuff that is offtopic in more specialised forums.
How does the Australian legislation deine it?
On Sun, 1 Feb 2026 19:21:52 +1100, Daniel70 wrote:
Cross-posted to Linux and Win-11 NGs
Why!?
On 2/02/2026 12:17 am, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2026-02-01 13:34, Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:
On 2/1/2026 6:17 PM, Daniel70 wrote:
On 1/02/2026 8:38 pm, Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:
Never got into BBS's so couldn't possibly comment.
The same goes to Fidonet BBS.
Echomail is the technology used by Fidonet to run a distributed messaging network like Usenet. Back then, it ran on top of dial-up
modems as slow as 1200 baud. Those were the days! :)
For some strange reason, Fidonet continued working in Rusia after it
stopped in Europe. They took over the development of software, too.
For a while at least, I could participate in Fidonet using internet instead of a modem.
Sorry! What?? I've never used Fidonet but, I'm guessing, the Ones and
Zeros being produced by your Computer would have had to be converted to varying Tones to traverse the Phone Network someway .... which is what a Modem does.
I suppose you could have had a Modem Board with-in the Computer which
then produced the varying tones required to traverse the Phone network.
Then my uplink failed, his computer broke down and he gave up. Could
not find another suitable node.
On Mon, 2/2/2026 3:56 AM, Daniel70 wrote:
On 2/02/2026 12:17 am, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2026-02-01 13:34, Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:
On 2/1/2026 6:17 PM, Daniel70 wrote:
On 1/02/2026 8:38 pm, Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:
Never got into BBS's so couldn't possibly comment.
The same goes to Fidonet BBS.
Echomail is the technology used by Fidonet to run a distributed messaging network like Usenet. Back then, it ran on top of dial-up
modems as slow as 1200 baud. Those were the days! :)
For some strange reason, Fidonet continued working in Rusia after it
stopped in Europe. They took over the development of software, too.
For a while at least, I could participate in Fidonet using internet instead of a modem.
Sorry! What?? I've never used Fidonet but, I'm guessing, the Ones and
Zeros being produced by your Computer would have had to be converted to
varying Tones to traverse the Phone Network someway .... which is what a
Modem does.
I suppose you could have had a Modem Board with-in the Computer which
then produced the varying tones required to traverse the Phone network.
Then my uplink failed, his computer broke down and he gave up. Could
not find another suitable node.
The WinModem was a device based on having an audio chip
in a computer. It used voice frequency samples, for handling
modulated voice band transmissions. It saved money by not
having a DataPump and DSP code in hardware. It uses the
computer main processor for the DSP calculations.
What the WinModem needed, was a DAA, a Data Access Arrangement.
Using that thing, that provided some measure of "immunity" to
POTS. For example, if you discharged a thousand volts into the
RJ11 phone wire, none of that would make its way through
the DAA and blow up the computer. That is the part that always
must be provided, in some way, for a connection to POTS to be
sorta "safe". If the 11kV wire on the power pole in my backyard,
were to fall on the phone line, then if I had a modem I could be
kissing some part of the computer goodbye. Even with a DAA.
A fully provisioned modem, such as a Courier, it had a "datapump"
running at 85MHz. It had firmware. It talked modem-talk. That
was better than a WInModem, at least at the beginning.
When I got my laptop, one of the things I tested, was the
WinModem in the laptop, and it actually *beat* the Courier
on goodput in a 56K mode. And to do that, the core CPU on
the laptop donates about "100MHz worth of DSP activity"
to do the job over the Winmodem audio path. The DSP
sorts the tones in "buckets", the same sort of bucket
or bin scheme that ADSL uses in a sense.
In the early days, you could use a PLL to decode the tones.
Just going from memory, the CD4046 Phase Detector II output
https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/cd4046b.pdf
https://www.eleccircuit.com/cd4046-datasheet-phase-locked-loop/
uses flip flops and a state machine, and it should be a
-2Pi to +2Pi phase detector. The distinguishing thing
about such a phase detector, is it can do a wide range
clock, without a harmonic lockup problem. The other phase
detector, shown as a simple XOR gate, that can harmonic lock
so you could have a 1KHz input and the VCO could be running
at 3KHz in response. Whereas with phase detector II, a
a 1KHz input gives 1KHz output, a 5KHz input gives 5KHz output.
And we don't particularly care about the clock. We care about
the control voltage driving the VCO. It might measure 1 volt at
1KHz and 5 volts at 5KHz and exhibit a linear relationship
between frequency and voltage. Then, if your "POTS phone had
the tones", the VCO control voltage was a voltage domain
copy of what frequency was being carried at the moment.
It's F2V conversion.
I think you can imagine the hobbyist excitement at this point :-)
F2V conversion, may have worked fine with the ZX81 tape recorder
interface, but eventually the "sea of tones" on modem connections
was just too much for the "PLL crowd". That's when the DSP boys
took over. And DSP is how we got from 1200baud to 53300baud
(a little short of the marketing 56K).
On Sun, 1 Feb 2026 22:54:39 +0800, "Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> wrote:
On 2/1/2026 9:33 PM, Frank Slootweg wrote:
"Usenet, conceived by Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis in 1979 at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University, was
the first open social media app, established in 1980."
So I guess that settles it once and for all! :-)
"social media app"? Usenet was an "app"? I think it's a mistake. :)
A newsreader is an app (app is an abbreviation for "application
program").
Windows 11 will have one set of apps to a\ccess Usenet, and Linux
another.
But Usenet itself is not an app. What is it?
On 2/02/2026 5:04 am, s|b wrote:
On Sun, 1 Feb 2026 19:21:52 +1100, Daniel70 wrote:Because I wanted to hear from UseNet Users in General, NOT just the Windows users, Not just the Linux users.
Cross-posted to Linux and Win-11 NGs
Why!?
I suppose I should have also posted into an Apple/Mac group but I'm not subscribed to one.
In the subject of winmodems, I bought one by mistake. At that time I
double booted to Linux, and that blasted thing would not work in Linux at all.
I think I resold it to a friend what was a happy Windows user.
On Mon, 2/2/2026 6:39 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
In the subject of winmodems, I bought one by mistake. At that time I
double booted to Linux, and that blasted thing would not work in Linux at all.
I think I resold it to a friend what was a happy Windows user.
Modems were never a lot of fun at the best of times.
I had two modems with datapumps, one each from the different
modem factions. If I was "dialing into a Livingston front end",
there was a modem for that, and there was another modem
for the other flavors of front ends (modem pool).
I think if you mixed the wrong modem types together,
there would be a spiral of death, where the datarate
would drop, until the datarate dropped so low, it would
do a disconnect. And this is because if conditions improve,
the bins that weren't being used, would not be recommissioned.
And thus, a connection could only go downhill.
My modems may have been flashed once or twice. I needed to
flash them, for them to run at 56K. And I think a typical
good day with the modem, was 43.3 or so. The line to the
CO was likely too long, to support more than that. They used
to connect a tank of dry nitrogen to our "wire bundle"
in the manhole, and leave the gas running for a couple
days, to "dry the lines". And this would help bring my line
back to 43.3K again. I would occasionally have it drop all
the way to 33.6K because of line conditions.
I had to disconnect the household phone wiring, drill a wire up
through the computer room floor, and run a brand new phone wire
up into the computer room. And that's how I got the ability
to run at 43.3 . You had to fight every inch of
the way with that crap.
My manager at work, when he had to debug his damn modem,
there was corrosion in some phone wires where they passed
through the foundation wall.
"Good riddance, to bad rubbish."
I don't recollect anyone lamenting that their modem was
in the junk room now :-)
On 2/02/2026 12:33 am, Frank Slootweg wrote:
Mr. Man-wai Chang <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> wrote:
On 2/1/2026 4:21 PM, Daniel70 wrote:
Whilst I doubt there were many under-16's using UseNet, I have
heard some suggest that it is a "Social Media".
Facebook ... Sure!
X ... Sure!
Instagram .... Sure!
Youtube .... Some would suggest it is "Social Media", too.
... and there are probably others I can't think of or have Never
heard of.
But is UseNet "Social Media"??
Usenet is "fully duplex", so it's social media because you can
communicate with each others. :)
The same goes to Fidonet BBS.
The History section of Wikipedia's 'Social media' page starts with
the PLATO system and later says
"Usenet, conceived by Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis in 1979 at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University, was
the first open social media app, established in 1980."
So I guess that settles it once and for all! :-)
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media#History>
I thought UseNet was just an outsourcing/spreading of the D.A.R.P.A.
projects into the Common peoples environments!!
D.A.R.P.A. apparently started back in Feb 1958.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA
For some strange reason, Fidonet continued working in Rusia after it
stopped in Europe. They took over the development of software, too.
I don't recollect anyone lamenting that their modem was in the junk
room now :-)
On Mon, 2 Feb 2026 08:54:22 -0500, Paul wrote:
I don't recollect anyone lamenting that their modem was in the junk
room now :-)
Faxing via modem was fun. This was because standalone fax machines had
bloody awful scanners that pushed the contrast to maximum on
everything which, while fine for regular text, turned photographic
imagery into a murky, blobby mess.
Whereas if the fax data was generated on a computer, you had access to
nice dithering algorithms that did a creditable job of reproducing
gradations of tone (at least in greyscale). And this still looked
pretty good on the receiving fax machine.
I loved the oohs and ahs and “How did you do that?” responses. ;)
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> writes:
For some strange reason, Fidonet continued working in Rusia after it
stopped in Europe. They took over the development of software, too.
I still see people post to Usenet from Fidonet on occasion.
Oh, and here we had (have?) to pay local phone calls, so we tried to
make our calls to Fidonet or Internet as short as possible.
On 2026-02-02 05:36, Steve Hayes wrote:
On Sun, 1 Feb 2026 22:54:39 +0800, "Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> wrote:
On 2/1/2026 9:33 PM, Frank Slootweg wrote:
"Usenet, conceived by Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis in 1979 at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University, was >>>> the first open social media app, established in 1980."
So I guess that settles it once and for all! :-)
"social media app"? Usenet was an "app"? I think it's a mistake. :)
A newsreader is an app (app is an abbreviation for "application
program").
Windows 11 will have one set of apps to a\ccess Usenet, and Linux
another.
But Usenet itself is not an app. What is it?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet
A newsreader is an app (app is an abbreviation for "applicationUsnet is a service, a 2-way messaging network! Defintely not an "app" as
program").
Windows 11 will have one set of apps to a\ccess Usenet, and Linux
another.
But Usenet itself is not an app. What is it?
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> writes:
For some strange reason, Fidonet continued working in Rusia after it
stopped in Europe. They took over the development of software, too.
I still see people post to Usenet from Fidonet on occasion.
I normally also object to back-dating the use of the term 'app' by
several decades, but if you substitute 'app' by 'program' (or
'application', etc.), then for all intents and purposes, for the user,
Usenet *was* a program, which read/posted articles from/to the *local* 'spool'. A client program, reading/posting directly from/to a remote
news server came only much later. Remember, NetNews/Usenet *predates*
the Internet by quite a number of years.
I thought UseNet was just an outsourcing/spreading of the D.A.R.P.A.
projects into the Common peoples environments!!
D.A.R.P.A. apparently started back in Feb 1958.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA
On Mon, 2 Feb 2026 15:51:29 +0100, "Carlos E.R."
<robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
Oh, and here we had (have?) to pay local phone calls, so we tried to
make our calls to Fidonet or Internet as short as possible.
There was a point at which all of South Africa's internetional
internet traffic was on a 9600 bps dial-up line via Fidonet, between a
BBS at Rhodes University in Grahamstown and Randy Bush's BBS in Oregon
USA. When TCP/IP connections became more widely available, it was the
other way round -- Fidonet packets were exchanged over the Internet by
FTP.
That was also the time of the distinction between the Internet
(TCP/IP) and the internet, which included Fidonet technology networks.
Fido techniology was developed after uucp, and was more sophisticated:
in nested replies it would show the initials of who had posted what,
so it was easier to follow conversations. I miss echomail for that
reason. And yes, there wqas a lot of social chitchat, so FTNs were, at
least in part, social networks.
On Mon, 2 Feb 2026 12:45:57 +0100, "Carlos E.R."
<robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
On 2026-02-02 05:36, Steve Hayes wrote:
On Sun, 1 Feb 2026 22:54:39 +0800, "Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> wrote:
On 2/1/2026 9:33 PM, Frank Slootweg wrote:
"Usenet, conceived by Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis in 1979 at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University, was >>>>> the first open social media app, established in 1980."
So I guess that settles it once and for all! :-)
"social media app"? Usenet was an "app"? I think it's a mistake. :)
A newsreader is an app (app is an abbreviation for "application
program").
Windows 11 will have one set of apps to a\ccess Usenet, and Linux
another.
But Usenet itself is not an app. What is it?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet
A long but not very useful answer.
Perhaps I should reword my question: Usenet can't be called an "app",
so what DO you call it?
| Sysop: | Scott |
|---|---|
| Location: | Freeburg, IL, USA, Earth |
| Users: | 4 |
| Nodes: | 16 (0 / 16) |
| Uptime: | 221:15:23 |
| Calls: | 4 |
| Messages: | 15,886 |