• Vqhm@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        I mean

        There were networks such as: EFnet Undernet Quakenet DALnet

        different servers in different regions did network together.

        There was a different word for ‘defederation’ back then: net split https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netsplit

        And it was usually from a networking issue.

        I’m still salty that an IRCOP from a (now defunct) Canadian server used a net split as an attack: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRC_takeover

        to steal a # channel from my friends and make it private long enough to sort out the bot auto bans. We appealed, but because they were an IRCOP, the other IRCOPs from the federated servers were just like, “whatever, pound sand users, go run a server if you want to control stuff like us.”

        Anyway, IRC was a connection of various servers run by various people/corporations/universities etc.

    • hansl@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      All of the protocols that have been ratified are federated. That was kind of the big thing of the internet. HTTP, SMTP (email), FTP, etc. All federated.

      When people talk about defederating threads, I’m always curious why they think Net Neutrality is a bad idea, or if they’d appreciate if their email providers didn’t allow emails to Gmail because they don’t like big corporations…

      • Crashumbc@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Neutrality is a bad idea, or if they’d appreciate if >their email providers didn’t allow emails to Gmail >because they don’t like big corporations…

        email servers and domains are blocked constantly and have been since the 90’s when they are pushing spam, malware,etc.

  • Brokkr@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    While text based messages on usenet may be dieing, the file sharing is still quite popular. My radar and sonar still pick up plenty of signals.

        • Doubletwist@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Historically I’ve been a Unix/Linux/VMware sysadmin, though I’ve moved into a professional services role doing automation/orchestration/config-management.

          There’s a lot of good IT/Development technical channels on IRC, especially on libera.chat and oftc.net, since freenode went down the drain.

          • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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            11 months ago

            Historically I’ve been a Unix/Linux/VMware sysadmin, though I’ve moved into a professional services role doing automation/orchestration/config-management.

            Are you me?

            Honestly, your nick is familiar, so I’d only rejoice to hear you were in the 07974 for Unix during such exciting times (Random love, shadow legal, blue November etc).

            Go learn mgmtConfig!

            • Doubletwist@lemmy.world
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              11 months ago

              Afraid that wasn’t me. Though I’ve used this nick in many places over the years, including various tech/sysadmin IRC channels, and other social media sites.

    • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.net
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      11 months ago

      They’re dead as social media; all anyone uses them for is piracy these days and not to, you know… Talk to people.

      I think IRC could be made more appealing pretty easily though. Just make a client for it with a slick UI and features like Discord has (like voice and video chat, not simply text), and then allow any Nitro-like shit for free.

  • spudwart@spudwart.com
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    11 months ago

    Well the issue with Usenet is the following:

    • Usenet is quite old
    • Usenet is not very well known.
    • Usenet has many barriers to entry.
    • Usenet groups have garnered an exclusionary reputation.
    • Other easier options have existed for a long time for basic social media interaction.
    • Troy@lemmy.ca
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      11 months ago

      Usenet also largely became a venue for bootlegging and porn – and due to the nature of the protocol, companies hosting Usenet services didn’t want to have to store all of that shit. After about 1995, you didn’t go there for discussion anymore. Eternal September messed it up. Lemmy is fortunate that you can’t really use it for file sharing, a few images notwithstanding, or the same thing would happen.

      • Dave.@aussie.zone
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        11 months ago

        and due to the nature of the protocol, companies hosting Usenet services didn’t want to have to store all of that shit.

        You can opt not to carry certain newsgroups, eg skipping alt.binaries.* would reduce your storage requirements drastically.

        The fact of the matter is that people wanted something more “instant and accessible” than newsgroups that were synced overnight, and modern social media sprang from that desire.

    • SeedyOne@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      It should be emphasized, the above list is accurate for Social Interaction as the discussions and text have indeed waned. It does mention that at the end, but still.

      For media sharing specifically, many of those above items are either trivial OR are actually what helps it thrive. Somehow, 30 years later, we’re still under the radar and maxing out connection speeds without having to VPN, seed, share or dodge ISP rules and DMCA requests.

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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      11 months ago

      Nntp is easy to set up and run.

      There’s a webUI and a forum front-end for nntp.

      Nntp is as well-known as MC files (if you need to. You know).

      An internal slack is as exclusive.

      Email<->nntp gateways exist. What’s easier than email ?

  • Björn Tantau@swg-empire.de
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    11 months ago

    I found my first girlfriend over Usenet. de.rec.sf.starwars. You can probably still find my messages in archives.