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Background to understand

I just saw an article: “It’s time to abolish the” Internet monarchy “, which basically means that at present our communities and forums are very “centralized”, just like the monarchy system. The community rules are made by a very few people, and the community resources are controlled by a very few people, which is very undemocratic.

As a result, the author posits that we can elect “community managers”, and then further access to “community resources” (such as databases and so on); When we are not satisfied with the current management, we can split a new community based on the current state of the community, which is a bit like pulling another branch from Git branch management.

It can be simply interpreted as: the current network community is like SVN, centralized management, but improved, should be as distributed as Git;

Then I learned that there was already a distributed Internet communication system: Usenet

Where does Usenet come from?

It was designed in 1979 and released in 1980 with the full name: Users Network;

How early is that? Given the high popularity of Windows XP in China, IE 6.0 was the first browser many people picked up. There were five major versions before Internet Explorer 6. The first version of Internet Explorer was released in 1995, and Usenet predated the original version by 15 years.

Can be called: ancient!

Usenet is the granddaddy of forums today, popularizing many well-known concepts and terms, such as FAQ, sock puppet, Internet debate, spam, and more.

Operation mechanism

Usenet operation mechanism is divided into 3 steps:

  1. Buy a server from your ISP and use it as a dedicated Usenet server to get a web address. (Similar to registering a Git account, but not free)
  2. 1. To post on this site; (similar to git push)
  3. View posts: Download and update other people’s posts from the server. (Similar to git pull operation)

It has a specific client:

The Usenet server will exchange posts with other Usenet servers on a daily basis, which means it will keep the content synchronized, which means that no matter which server your posts are sent to, people around the world will eventually see them.

In this way, Usenet realizes distributed ~

A picture is worth a thousand words:

More Q&A

  • Is Usenet still in use today?

Usenet has far fewer users than the Internet, but there are still people using it; It provides a more secure way to share information; Also, there are many Usenet vendors in operation, indicating that there is still demand for it;

  • Is Usenet more secure than BitTorrent?

Usenet, which supports SSL and VPN, is more secure than BitTorrent;

  • Is Usenet legal?

Usenet is perfectly legal. Some newsgroups on Usenet usually have their own rules against uploading illegal content.

  • Is Usenet the Dark Web?

It is not the dark Web, but rather a transparent network for sharing information.

  • What’s the difference between Usenet and the Internet?

Usenet is not the Internet. It is a separate network and Usenet is mainly used for file sharing. The servers in Usenet use the NNTP protocol to exchange data. The Internet is a network of interconnected computers that communicate through TCP/IP.

Summary: We have learned that distributed community forums have existed for a long time, namely Usenet, but they have not become mainstream due to (1) not convenient, (2) having to pay for a dedicated server, (3) today’s forums are also full of flowers, so choose that one. But to imagine when we might return to Usenet? Maybe there are a lot of forums in the market, mainstream forums suddenly collapse or go bankrupt, or XX is too red, or there is a scandal of violating user privacy and so on

In this new world: anything can happen, can’t it?

OK, this article is a brief introduction to so much, as Usenet introductory understanding is still very good, support three link 👍👍👍

I’m Nuggets Anthony, output exposure input, technical insight into life.