[rescue] Old school usenet

[John Floren]

On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 1:42 PM, Tom Manos <tmanos at concursive.com> wrote:
> Also thanks for the follow-ups on the idea of a community based on some old
> school stuff, like usenet.
>
> If there is real interest, and others want to participate more seriously than
> just pointing a news reader at my INN server, I'm ready. I don't think I
> intended to say that this should be "by invite" only, just that it shouldn't
> be open to the huns. Not sure what the best method of accomplishing that would
> be.
>
> What I am interested in is a system that sort of enforces the old USENET
> Etiquette principles, aiming for near 100% information content and near 0%
> spam and other crap.
>
> Although I originally thought of the thing as mostly for technical groups, I'm
> not sure I still think that.
>
> Comments? How much interest is there, really?

I think it would be nice to have USENET with a slightly higher barrier
to entry than currently. Google Groups has basically brought us to the
point where anybody with a browser can post. I also think anonymity
might be undesirable for something like this...  I have no legitimate
reason not to use my name, and it would probably reduce trolling and
flaming.

The real question here is how to make our walled garden which is easy
enough to sign up for that people will come, but unattractive to the
types which have ruined USENET. Perhaps having stricter control on
identities and posting, with owners willing to ban those who get
unruly, would do the trick.

John