No. You're missing Gary's point entirely. And you're coming across
as very resentful that he didn't answer your question in exactly the
form you expected the answer to be in. No one is asking for ``deep
heartfelt appreciation'' of anything. Nor is ``terminological
precision'' the issue. Gary's point -- and mine -- is that you're
asking the wrong question. He tried to point you in the right direction,
but you misundersood him. Briefly -- very briefly -- the ARPANET, and
later the Internet, are in a very strong sense ``official''. There's
a formal structue, with management, paperwork, etc. Usenet is totally
the opposite. There is *no* structure, no organization, no formal
anything. Usenet is simply the collection of machines, on and off the
Internet, that happen to co-operate in doing the same thing. Assorted
individuals may or may not ``do Usenet'' as part of their job, but the
net as a whole isn't structured. You can't ask what Usenet as a whole
did or didn't do; that's not a meaningful question. Usenet per se can't
do anything, because there is no such thing. Individuals have done
whatever it is that has been done.
The difference here is not terminological, it's substance. The words
are different because the reality is different.
--Steve Bellovin
This page last updated on: Jul 1 09:16