gnetwerker's Journal: On the 20th Anniversary of NCP - TCP flag day

My first USENET (wasn't named that yet, was "netnews") post on record was in Jun 1981. I had been on the ARPAnet before, and there were probably some posts before that which weren't archived. We even had USENET nostalgia in 1983 (to wit).

I originally composed a note that combined nostalgia with concern for the fact that the signal-to-noise ration on the 'net is as low as it was then, if not lower. In thinking about it while typing, I realized that my note was an example of the problem, not a solution.

So I will simply observe this: a wise person pointed out not long after we connected my employer to the 'net in 1983 that the best way to get the right answer on USENET was not to ask a question, but to post the wrong answer -- a hundred people will jump in to correct you.

Now we have Slashdot. Some things never change.