The Social Forces Behind the Development of Usenet News
by Michael Hauben
hauben@columbia.edu
Right at this moment someplace in the world, someone is being helpful (or
someone is being helped.) At the same time, others are participating in
various discussions and debates. A new communications medium is currently in
its infancy. Over the past two decades the global computer telecommunications
network has been developing. One element of this network is called Usenet
News (also known as NetNews), and this news' original carrier was called
UUCPnet (or just UUCP). The rawest principle of Usenet News is its
importance. In its simplest form, Usenet News represents democracy. The basic
element of Usenet News is a post. Each individual post consists of a unique
contribution from some user placed in a subject area, called a newsgroup. In
Usenet's very beginning (and still to some extent today) posts were trans-
ferred using UNIX's UUCP utility. This utility allows the use of phone lines
to transmit computer data among separate computers. The network (UUCPnet)
that Usenet News was transferred on, grew from the ground up in a grassroots
manner. Originally, there was no official structure. What began as two or
three sites on the network in 1979 expanded to 15 in 1980. From 150 in 1981
to 400 in 1982. The very nature of Usenet is communication. Usenet News
greatly facilitates inter-human communication among a large group of users.
Inherent in most mass media is central control of content. Many people are
influenced by the decisions of a few. Television programming, for example, is
controlled by a small group of people compared to the size of the audience.
In this way, the audience has very little choice over what is emphasized by
most mass media. However, Usenet News is controlled by its audience. Usenet
News should be seen as a promising successor to other people's presses, such
as The Searchlight, The Appeal to Reason, The Jewish Daily Forward in the
U.S. and the Penny Press tradition in England. Like these other people's
presses, most of the material written to Usenet is by the same people who
actively read Usenet. Thus, the audience of Usenet decides the content and
subject matter to be thought about, presented and debated. The ideas that
exist on Usenet come from the mass of people who participate in it. In this
way, Usenet is an uncensored forum for debate - where many sides of an issue
come into view. Instead of being force-fed by an uncontrollable source of
information, people set the tone and emphasis on Usenet. People control what
happens on Usenet. In this rare situation, issues and concerns that are of
interest and thus important to the participants, are brought up. In the
tradition of Amateur Radio and Citizen's Band Radio, Usenet News is the
product of the users' ideas and will. Unlike Amateur Radio and CB, however,
Usenet is owned and controlled solely by the participants. Currently the
range of connectivity is international and quickly expanding around the world
into every nook and cranny. This explosive expansion allows growing
communication with people around the world.
In the 1960s, the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the
Department of Defense began research of fundamental importance to the
development and testing of computer communications networks. ARPA research
laid the ground work for the development of other networks such as UUCPnet.
ARPA conducted an experiment in attempting to connect incompatible mainframe
computers.(1) It was called the ARPA Computer Network (Arpanet). ARPA's stated
objectives were:
"1) To develop techniques and obtain experience on inter-connecting
computers in such a way that a very broad class of interactions were possible
and
2) To improve and increase computer research productivity through
resource sharing."(2)
ARPA was both conducting communications research and trying to study how
to conserve funds by avoiding duplication of computer resources.(3) A
Cambridge, Mass. company, Bolt Beranek and Newman, Inc. (BBN), was chosen to
construct the network, and AT&T was chosen to provide the communications
lines. Arpanet was needed because it was found that a data connection over
existing telephone voice lines was too slow and not reliable enough in order
to have a useful connection.(4) Packet-switching was developed for use as the
protocol of exchanging information over the lines. Packet-switching is a
communications process in which all messages are broken up into equal size
packets which are transmitted interspersed and then re-assembled. In this
way, short, medium and long messages get transferred with minimum delay.(5)
The Arpanet was a success. ARPA provided several advances to communi-
cations research. Arpanet researchers were surprised at the enthusiastic
adoption of electronic mail (e-mail) as the primary source of communication
early on. E-mail was a source of major productivity increase through the use
of the Arpanet.(6) By 1983, the Arpanet officially shifted from using NCP
(Network Control Program) to TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet
Protocol.) A key point to TCP/IP's success is in its simplicity. It is very
easy to implement over various platforms, and this simplicity has accounted
for its continued existence as a de facto standard of the Internet up to
today. Arpanet's lasting contribution was demonstrating how a backbone infra-
structure can serve as a connection between gateways. A gateway is a computer
or part of a computer programmed to receive messages from one network and
transfer them onto another network.
Arpanet grew quickly to more than 50 nodes between Hawaii and Norway.(7)
However, it did not extend to all who could utilize it. Computer scientists
at universities without Department of Defense contracts noticed the advan-
tages and petitioned the National Science Foundation (NSF) for similar
connectivity. CSNET was formed to service computer scientists. CSNET was
initially financed by the NSF. Very quickly the desire for interconnection
spread to other members of the university community and CSNET grew to serve
more scientists than just computer scientists at universities. CSNET became
known as "Computer 'and' Science Network" rather than just "Computer Science
network."(8)
Arpanet was phased out by the Department of Defense, and was replaced by
various internal networks (such as Milnet). The role of connecting university
communities and regional networks was taken over by an NSF funded NSFNET,
which originated as a connection for university researchers to the five
National Supercomputer Centers. CSNET and NSFNET were made possible by the
research on Arpanet. The NSFNet became the U.S. backbone for the global
network now known as the Internet.
Arpanet research was pioneering for communications research.(9) Researchers
discovered the link between computer inter-connection and increased
productivity from human communication. The sharing of resources was proven to
save money and increase computer use and productivity. The development of
packet-switching revolutionized the basic methodology of connecting
computers. The source of these discoveries were the people involved. The
personnel involved in the Arpanet project were very intelligent and forward-
looking. They recognized their position of developing future technologies,
and thus did not develop products that commercial industry could (and would)
develop. Instead they understood that the communications technologies they
were developing had to come from a not-for-profit body. ARPA researchers had
no proprietary products to support, and no deadlines to meet. Either would
have tainted, or made developing networks of incompatible computers
impossible or limited. Current users of international computer networks are
in debt to the pioneers of Arpanet.
So Arpanet was successful in its attempt to connect various spatially
remote computers, and thus more importantly the people who used those
computers. However, these people were either professors at Universities that
had Department of Defense research grants or employees of a limited number of
Defense Industry companies. Eventually other Universities connected through
CSNet, NSFNET, BITNET and other developing connections. There were still a
mass of people who wanted a connection, but were not in a position to gain
one. Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill were
two such locations. It was in these underprivileged fertile grounds where the
grassroots computer communica-tions breakthrough of Usenet origina-ted and
developed.
The UNIX operating system provides the basic tools needed to share in-
formation between computers. UNIX(10) was developed as "a system around which
a fellowship would form."(11) One of the programmers of UNIX, Dennis Ritchie,
wrote that the intended purpose of UNIX was to "encourage close
communication."(12) UNIX's general principles thus conceptually foreshadowed
the basic tenet of Usenet News. How else should one go about designing
communications programs, but on an operating system which was designed with
a basic principle of encouraging communication? The UNIX utility UUCP
(UNIX-to-UNIX CoPy) was developed in 1976 by Mike Lesk at Bell Labs. UUCP
provided a simple way of passing files between any two computers running UNIX
and UUCP. UNIX's popularity also arose from AT&T's prohibition to profit from
other than their main business, phone services, under the terms of the 1956
Consent Decree. UNIX was thus available on a "no-cost" (or very low cost)
basis. The operating system was seen as an "in-house" tool on DEC computers
and was in use throughout Bell Labs. Many Universities used the same type of
computer and were licensed by AT&T to utilize UNIX. It was thus easily
accessible. Schools picked it up, and computer science students used it to
learn about operating systems, as UNIX was a model of elegance and simplicity
compared to most operating systems of the time. UNIX became a widely used
operating system in the academic world. This paved the way for an
international public communications system to form.
Usenet News was created by graduate students Tom Truscott and James Ellis
of Duke University in conjunction with graduate student Steve Bellovin of the
University of North Carolina in 1979. A 5 page leaflet introducing Usenet
News was distributed at the Winter 1980 Usenix UNIX Users' Conference in
Boulder, CO. Later that year, at the Summer Usenix Conference in Delaware the
software needed to participate in Usenet was put on the Conference tape. By
this time, Stephen Daniel had rewritten the basic programs and it was called
A-News. The software was immensely popular.
Usenet was patterned to mean "UNIX Users Network." The developers thought
Usenet would be used to discuss people's problems and to share experiences
about UNIX. Usenet did provide a forum for people to solve problems with
UNIX, as AT&T provided no support for UNIX. In an early handout, Usenet is
referred to as a "poor man's Arpanet."(13) Stephen Daniel told me that people
who didn't have access to the Arpanet were hungry for similar opportunities
to communicate.(14)
Usenet News has been full of surprises from the beginning. The originators
of Usenet News underestimated the hunger of the people. As the initial
intentions were to produce an easy method of communicating with other users
at the same site, the writers thought people would want to have local
bulletin boards.(15) However, people were attracted by the possibility of
communicating with others outside the local community. Even today, the wide-
spread communication is part of what makes Usenet so enticing. It was also
thought NetNews would be useful as a method of communications at individual
locations, and between sites close to each other.(16) Usenet grew as a grass-
roots connection of people. The people who utilized NetNews wanted to
communicate, and communicate they did! People have a fundamental need to
communicate and Usenet News aptly fills the bill. (See, e.g., Gregory G.
Woodbury's "Net Cultural Assumptions")
Early in 1980 or 1981 the gap between Arpanet and Usenet was bridged.(17)
The University of California at Berkeley had connections to both Arpanet and
Usenet News. This allowed another pioneer, Mark Horton, to bring discussions
from Arpanet mailing lists into Usenet newsgroups.(18) This was a significant
achievement. Communities other than ARPA sponsored researchers were finally
able to see what the Arpanet had made possible. The gatewaying of Arpanet
mailing lists into Usenet attracted a wave of people. These people became
attracted to Usenet News when two Arpanet mailing lists (SF-LOVERS and
HUMAN-NETS) began to appear on Usenet.(19) These lists provided interesting
material and discussions. The size of the news feed (i.e., the raw data of
Usenet News) thus became larger and provided more for people to read. Later
other sites would serve as gateways to even more discussion lists from the
Arpanet. NetNews was also seen as a superior method of holding discussions.
Gatewaying these fa (i.e., From Arpanet) newsgroups proved to be politically
courageous. The Arpanet was only accessible by a certain group of people, and
these gateways challenged that notion. The effect on the Arpanet was
important as Steve Bellovin wrote:
"The impact of Usenet on the Arpanet was more as a (strong) catalyst to
force re-examination (and benign neglect) on the strict policies against
interconnection. Uucp mail into the Arpanet became a major force long before
it was legit. And it was obviously known to, and ignored by, many of the
Powers that Were."(20)
The network made possible by UUCP expanded to connect people across the
entire country. Rather early UUCP expanded internationally when the
University of Toronto Zoology Department joined the Net in May of 1981.(21) Two
companies proved helpful to this communication by distributing NetNews and
electronic mail long distance. Each UUCP site had to either pay the phone
bill to connect to the next system, or arrange for the other system to make
the phone call. System Administrators at AT&T and DEC did the footwork in
order to take e-mail and news where it might not have reached. These people
went through the trouble in order to try to see the system work. However,
easy connections were not always available. In one example, Case Western
Reserve University graduate students had to route mail across the continent
twice in order to send mail through UUCP to reach their professors who were
connected to the Arpanet next door.(22) Usenet News seems to have introduced
the idea of connectivity to the Arpanet, as gradually the Arpanet connected
to other networks until it became more known as a backbone to other networks
than a self-contained network.(23)
Voluntary effort is the crucial foundation of UUCPnet and Usenet News. On
one side, there are those who donate time and energy by contributing to
Usenet's content - writing messages and answering messages or participating
in a debate. Without the time and effort put in by the users of Usenet News,
Usenet News would not be what it is today. Also important to Usenet's success
are the system administrators who make the running of Usenet News possible.
Resource-wise, NetNews takes up disk space on computers throughout the
Usenet, and phone calls often must be made to transfer the raw data of the
news. In particular, system administrators at AT&T and DEC found it
worthwhile to transport the News across the country. Certain sites emerged as
clearing houses for Usenet News and UUCP e-mail.(24) These machines served as
major relay stations of both news and e-mail. A structure grew that was
considered the "backbone" of "the net." Backbone sites formed the trunk of
the circulatory system of news and e-mail. A backbone site would connect to
other central distribution computers and to numerous smaller sites. These
central backbone sites provided a crucial organization to the Usenet
communications skeleton. People formed the center of these connections. For
example, ihnp4 at AT&T existed mainly because of Gary Murakami's effort and
only partially from management support. Usenet services and support were not
officially part of Gary's job description. After Gary left ihnp4, Doug Price
put time and effort to keep things running smoothly. Certain System
Administrators in Universities also picked up the responsibility for
distributing News and e-mail widely. Often these individuals would find ways
of having their site pick up the phone bill. Sometimes sites would bill the
recipients. However, others who received a free-connection often exchanged
that for spreading what they received to others for no charge (e.g.; Greg
Woodbury & wolves off of Duke, and plenty of others.)
Initially, expansion of sites receiving Usenet News was slow. Some
statistics are shown in the table.
Year # of Sites Articles/day
1979 3 2
1980 15 10
1981 150 20
1982 400 50*
1983 600 120
1984 900 225
1985 1300 375 1MB+/day
1986 2500 500 2MB+/day
1987 5000 1000 2.5MB+/day
1988 11000 1800 4MB+/day
*This was after Arpanet mailing
lists were gatewayed into Usenet. (Gene Spafford, Usenet History Archives
from the Mailing List) [from Gene Spafford, Oct. 11, 1990, based on
presentation on Oct 1, 1988 for the IETF meeting.]
Why did this happen? Initially Usenet was only transported via UUCP
connections. Besides UUCP, other resources were used, such as weekly
airmailing of mag-tape data to Australia to provide connectivity.(25) Today,
Usenet News travels over all types of connections. The evolving Arpanet (and
now the Internet) provided a faster way of transporting news. However, a
large number of Usenet News recipients only have connectivity via UUCP.
Universities and certain businesses can afford to connect to the Internet,
but many individuals also want a connection. Today 60% of Usenet traffic is
carried over the Internet via the instantaneous Network News Transport
Protocol (NNTP), but 40% of Usenet News is still carried through the slower
UUCP connections. From my own research using Usenet News, I have heard of
several examples of various types of connections using UUCP. These
representatives of the "fringe" give a clue to what the origins of this
communication must have been like.
The number of sites receiving Usenet News continually increased (as
already illustrated) and this clearly demonstrates its popularity. People
were attracted to Usenet News because of what it made possible. People want
to communicate and enjoy the thrill of finding others across the country (or
today across the world) who share a common interest or just to be in touch
with. Besides the common thrill, it is possible to make a serious
relationship. Usenet News makes this discovery possible because it is a
public forum. People expose their ideas broadly. This wide exposure makes it
possible to find compatriots in thought. The same physical connections which
carry Usenet News often also transport electronic mail. Interactions and
discoveries are only made possible by the public aspect of Usenet News.
Mailing Lists have as wide a range of discussions, but are exposed to a much
smaller sized group. The appeal of Usenet can become tiresome at times(26), but
it is rare that anyone leaves Usenet permanently. Unless, of course, someone
can't find the time to fit Usenet into his or her life. As more universities,
businesses, and individuals connect, the value of Usenet News grows. Each new
person eventually can add his unique opinion to the collection of thoughts
that Usenet already has. Each new connection also increases the area where
new connections can be made through cheap local phone calls. The potential
for inexpensive expansion is limited only by the oceans and other natural
barriers.
Arpanet has been supplemented and eventually replaced by networks like
CSnet and its successor NSFnet. Both were created by the United States
Government in response to research scientists' and professors' pleas to have
a similar connection to the Arpanet. The NSFnet was also created to provide
access to the five supercomputer computing centers around the country. And
now NSFnet as the backbone of the global provides another route for Usenet
News to be distributed. Similar to the Arpanet, NSFnet is a constant
connection run over leased lines. NetNews is distributed using the NNTP
protocol over Internet connections. This allows for News and e-mail to be
distributed quickly over a large area. Internet connections also assist in
carrying news and mail internationally. The Internet-class networks and
connections include the established government and university sponsored
connections. However much of the way individuals are connected at home is
through the phone lines and various versions of UUCP. There are also
commercial services that exist now for a fee that serve to provide
connections for electronic mail and Usenet News access, as well as access to
the Internet.
Much of the development of Usenet News owes a big thanks to restrictions
on commercial uses. Where else in our society is the commercial element so
clearly separated from any entity? Many other forums of discussion and
communication become clogged and congested when advertisements use space. On
UUCPnet, people feel it wrong to assist any commercial venture through the
voluntary actions of those who use and redistribute news and e-mail. When
people feel someone is abusing the nature of Usenet News, they let the
offender know through e-mail. In this manner users keep Usenet News as a
forum that is free from the monetary benefit for any one individual. Usenet
is not allowed to be a profit making venture for any one individual or group.
Rather, people fight to keep it a resource that is helpful to the society as
a whole.
On what was the Arpanet and what is now the NSFnet and the Internet, there
are Acceptable Use Policies (AUP) that exist because these networks were
initially set up, founded and financed by public monies. On these networks,
commercial usage is prohibited, which means it is also discouraged on other
networks that gateway into the NSFnet. [Unfortunately, the NSF is now en-
couraging privatization of the NSF backbone. See e.g. the U.S. Office of
Inspector General's Report on NSFnet, April, 1993 -ed] However, the
discouragement of commercial usage of the global Usenet News is separate and
developed differently from the AUP.
The social network that Usenet News represents supersedes the physical
connection it rides on. The current NetNews rides on many of the physical
networks that exist today. However, if need would ever be, Usenet could re-
establish itself outside of the current physically organized networks. Usenet
News' quality is such that it will survive because of its users will. As a
peer to peer network, Usenet draws its importance. People who use Usenet News
wish to communicate with others. This communal wish means that people on
Usenet find it in their own and in the community's interest to be helpful. In
this way, Usenet exists as a world-wide community of resources ready to be
shared. Where else today is there so much knowledge that is freely available?
Usenet News represents a living library. Usenet News is only a part of the
worldwide computer networks that are "part of the largest machine that man
has ever constructed - the global telecommunications network."(27)
Usenet News began with the spirit that still exists today. On several
newsgroups I posted a message with the following subject: "I want to hear
from the four corners of the Net - That means YOU!" In return I received
numerous wonderful answers. One new pioneer was going to use packet radio to
send e-mail up to the CIS's orbiting Mir Space Station in the heavens. One
person criticized Japan's lack of understanding the computer technology they
supposedly "lead". Another user from France told me how the government
charged a lot of money to access e-mail and Usenet News, and how there were
at least two other "unofficial" connections. Since the government didn't
recognize these other gateways, e-mail was to be sent via the United States
in order to reach others across the street! Certain cities (e.g., Wellington,
New Zealand and Cleveland, Ohio) have free public connections to Usenet News,
e-mail and other network resources. Others in Krakow in Poland, Australia and
the ex-USSR sent me information about their connection. Some told me of how
they made other connections possible. One user in South Africa told me how he
distributed news and e-mail and was trying to gain access to a satellite in
order to set connections up with the interior of Africa that lacks the
otherwise needed infrastructure. The world is still in the infancy of this
communications interconnectivity!
The very nature of Usenet News promotes change. Usenet News was born
outside of established "networks", and transcends any one physical network.
Currently, at this time, it exists of itself and via other networks. It makes
possible the distribution of information that might otherwise not be heard
through "official channels." This role makes Usenet News a herald for social
change. Because of the inherent will to communicate, people who don't have
access to News will want access when they become exposed to what it is, and
people who currently have access will want News to expand its reach so as to
further even more communication. Usenet News might grow to provide a forum
for people to influence their governments. News allows for the discussion and
debate of issues in a mode that facilitates a mass participation. This
becomes a source of independent information. An independent source is helpful
in the search for the truth.
Administrators and individuals who handle the flow of information have
been predicting the "imminent death of the net" since 1982.(28) The software
that handles the distribution of NetNews has gone through several versions to
handle the ever increasing amount of information. People who receive News
have either had to decrease 1) the number of days individual messages stay at
the site, 2) the number of newsgroups they receive; or they have had to
allocate more disk space for the storage of News. Despite all the predictions
and worries, people's desire for this communication have kept this social
network floating. Brad Templeton once wrote, "If there is a gigabit network
with bandwidth to spare that is willing to carry Usenet, it has plenty more
growth left."(29) Brad, and everyone else will be happy to know that such a
network does exist! Various research labs (including the NSF Center for
Telecommunications Research at Columbia University in New York) are close to
producing usable gigabit networks.
Usenet News is a democratic and technological breakthrough. The computer
networks and Usenet News are still developing. People need to work towards
keeping connections available and fairly inexpensive, if not free, so as to
encourage the body of users to grow. There are several cities and governments
across the world where the public has access to network services as a civic
service. This direction is to be encouraged. Exclusive arrangements for
access are to be discouraged. The very nature of Usenet News means people are
going to be working for its expansion. Others will be working for the
expansion for their own gain, and I wouldn't doubt that some forces will be
an active force against expansion of Usenet. I can only ask that people
attempt to spread this document in an attempt to popularize and encourage the
use and fight for Usenet News.
Footnotes
1. "In September 1969, the embryonic one-node(!) Arpanet came to life when
the first packet-switching computer was connected to the Sigma 7 computer at
UCLA. Shortly thereafter began the interconnection of many main processors
(referred to as HOSTs) at various university, industrial, and government
research centers across the United States." (Kleinrock, "On Communications
and Networks," IEEE Transactions on Computers, vol. C-25, No. 12, Dec, 1976,
pg. 1328)
2. F. Heart, A. McKenzie, J. McQuillan, and D. Walden, Arpanet Completion
Report, Washington, 1978, pg. II-2
3. Alexander McKenzie et al, "Arpanet, the Defense Data Network, and
Internet" in The Froehlich/Kent Encyclopedia of Telecommunications, vol. 1,
pg. 346
4. Lawrence G. Roberts, The Arpanet and Computer Networks, pg. 145
5. Leonard Kleinrock, "On Communications and Networks", IEEE Transactions
on Computers, vol C-25, No. 12, Dec., 1976, pg. 1327.
6. Alexander McKenzie, pg. 357
7. F. Heart, pg. ii-25
8. Alexander McKenzie, pg. 369
9. "For many of the people in government, at the major contractors, and in
the participating universities and research centers the development of the
Arpanet has been an exciting time which will rank as a high point in their
professional careers. In 1969 the Arpanet project represented a high risk,
potentially high impact research effort. The existence of the net in
practical useful form has not only provided communications technology to meet
any short term needs, but it represents a formidable communications
technology and experience base on which the Defense Department as well as the
entire public and private sectors will depend for advanced communications
needs. The strong and diverse experience base generated by the Arpanet
project has placed this country ahead of all others in advanced digital
communications science and technology." (Arpanet Completion Report, pg.
II-109.)
10. UNIX was born in 1969, the same year as Arpanet.
11. D. M. Ritchie, "The UNIX System: The Evolution of the UNIX Time-
sharing System," Bell Systems Technical Journal, vol. 63, No. 8 (October
1984), pg. 1578.
12. Ibid.
13. Stephen Daniel, James Ellis, and Tom Truscott, "USENET - A General
Access UNIX Network," Duke University, Durham, NC, Summer 1980.
14. Stephen Daniel, 1992, a personal communication, November 1992.
15. Bellovin, Steve. M. and Mark Horton, "USENET - A Distributed
Decentralized News System", an unpublished manuscript, 1985.
16. Ibid.
17. KEY POINT - The first gateway of Arpanet mailing lists to Usenet was
an early force to have gateways with Arpanet. Gateways to Arpanet were on the
side and in all likelihood not officially sanctioned. However, this provided
the impetus for future gateways into Arpanet. This was the first pressure on
the Arpanet to provide service to a larger number of people - a first step to
transforming of the Arpanet to become a part of the backbone on the Internet.
18. Comment from Steve Bellovin, Oct. 10, 1990, Usenet History Archive:
"Correct. The original concept was that most of the traffic would be the form
now known as UNIX-wizards (or whatever it's called this week). Growth was
slow until Mark started feeding the mailing lists in because there was
nothing to offer prospective customers. Given a ready source of material,
people were attracted."
19. Comment from Tom Truscott, Sept 25, 1990, Usenet History Archive: "The
very first news groups were "NET." and local groups such as "dept". Later
Horton et al. oversaw the lower-casing of NET. Only when ucbvax joined the
net did "fa" appear. Indeed I was unaware of the Arpanet mailing lists such
as human-nets until ucbvax enlightened us."
20. Steve Bellovin, Oct 10, 1990 - Usenet History Mailing List. Also -
from Lauren Weinstein, Nov. 23, 1992: "Greetings. It's all too easy to
forget, even for those of us who were there all along, how "small" it all
started. When I was at UCLA-ATS (ARPAnet site 1) in the early 1970s, even
small mailing lists could cause concern. I still distinctly remember the
concerns regarding network loading from Geoff Goodfellow's NETWORK-HACKERS
mailing list (this was in the days when "hacker" didn't have the negative
meaning it has picked up since then) as the list passed *100* addresses. A
list about wine (WINE-TASTERS, I believe it was called) which was mentioned
in "Datamation" magazine caused memos to be sent out from the powers-that-be
about "official use" of the net. There was also a lot of hand-wringing about
the 255 site limit (that is, a limit on the number of IMPs [Interface Message
Processors -ed]) in the network topology under NCP [Network Control Program
-ed]. It's quite remarkable how much we accomplished on what by today's
standards were slow machines with "tiny" amounts of memory, running with a 56
Kbit network backbone!"
21. Henry Spencer - Usenet History Archives "history" file.
22. From Amanda Walker, Tue, Oct. 16, 09:11 PDT, 1990, Usenet History
Archives: "Indeed. I suspect that there are any number of examples of this,
but the most egregious in my experience was at CWRU. The ECMP department had
a VAX 11/780 on Usenet ("cwruecmp"), and the campus computer center had a
DEC-20 in the room next door. The machines were separated by a grand total of
about 30 feet and a piece of wallboard, but the computer center was not at
all interested in "catering" to "those CS types" by stringing an RS-232 line
between them. So, it was possible to send mail between them, but only by
sending via a route resembling:
crwuecmp => decvax => ucbvax (UUCP)
ucbvax => columbia (CU20A, I think)
(Arpanet)
columbia => cmu-cs-c => cwru20
(CCnet)
Yup, that's three networks, and two coasts just to get through a piece of
sheetrock :-). Took about a week, too."
23. Alexander McKenzie, "Indeed, during a typical measurement period in
June 1988, over 50% of the active Arpanet hosts were gateways, and they
accounted for over 80% of the traffic." pg. 369
24. At AT&T, the computers "research", then "allegra", then "ihnp4" served
as major mail and/or news distribution sites. At DEC - "decvax" gradually
increased its role (e.g., "decvax" in New Hampshire would call long distance
to San Diego across the country.)
25. Andrew Tabenbaum is quoted as saying something similar to "Never
underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of 9 track tape (or
magnetic tape)."
26. "Flame Wars" (highly emotional attacks) can become annoying. There are
ebbs and flows of interesting posts. Even though Usenet is addicting, it can
also be overwhelming.
27. Ithiel de Sola Pool, Technologies Without Boundaries, Cambridge 1990,
pg. 56.
28. From the Usenet History Archives.
29. From the "posthist" file from Usenet History Archives.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Special Thanks to Bruce Jones for establishing and archiving the Usenet
History Archives. Also thanks to the Pioneers for getting Usenet News off to
the right start.
Usenet History Archives are accessible via anonymous FTP at weber.ucsd.edu
in the directory /pub/usenet.hist
Bellovin, Steve M. and Mark Horton, "USENET - A Distributed Decentralized
News System," an unpublished manuscript, 1985.
Heart, F., A. McKenzie, J. McQuillan, and D. Walden, Arpanet Completion
Report, Washington, 1978.
Kleinrock, Leonard, "On Communications and Networks," in IEEE Transactions
on Computers, vol C-25, No. 12, December, 1976, pg. 1326-1335.
McKenzie, Alexander and David C. Walden, "Arpanet, the Defense Data
Network, and Internet," in the Froehlich/Kent Encyclopedia, New York, 1991,
vol 1, pg. 341-376.
Ritchie, D.M., "The UNIX System: The Evolution of the UNIX Time-sharing
System," Bell Systems Technical Journal, vol. 63, No. 8 (October 1984), pg.
1577-1593.
Roberts, Lawrence G, "The Arpanet and Computer Networks," in A History of
Personal Workstations, ed. Adele Goldberg, N.Y., 1988.