Re: New to the Internet? Try this!

smb@research.att.com
Mon, 23 Nov 92 13:24:58 EST

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To refer to Usenet as "a service provided by the Internet"
probably shows that you need some more information. Usenet
started independently, and ran predominantly over UUCP links
in the early days, long before NNTP was defined. In my
opinion and recollection, the early days of Usenet and its
spectacular growth were primarily due to the efforts of hard-
working key individuals and their friends, who worked to grow
Usenet, site-by-site, connection-by-connection, and
tool-by-tool.

I assume that you know about the archive for this mailing
list:

weber.ucsd.edu pub/usenet.hist

-Gary

Actually, in my opinion one of the key elements in the early growth of
Usenet was when Mark Horton started feeding the SF-LOVERS and
HUMAN-NETS mailing lists into newsgroups. Those provided a critical
mass of traffic, and served as a lure to attract new sites.

The gateway was important for political reasons as well. The ARPANET
was supposed to be a self-contained entity, and only approved sites
were allowed to connect. Mail to and from Usenet-only sites was
an interesting test case that *wasn't* stomped out, though I think
it skated on some very thin ice for a while.

--Steve Bellovin

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