Re: Woz calls for a more open apple

[BLuRry <brendan.robert@gmail.com>]

On Sunday, June 10, 2012 2:09:51 PM UTC-5, MotoFox wrote:
> And it came to pass that Michael Black delivered the following message
> unto the people, saying~
> 
> > I think it's a reference to a generic state.  When there was a large mass
> > here, things probably were a lot "livelier".
> 
> I thought he was alluding to Eternal September, given the time period and
> the reference to flame wars. But that actually happened in 1993.
> 
> -- 
> MotoFox

Actually it was more a general reference to a time when there was a higher amount of usenet traffic since that was where online communities formed (aside from IRC, etc.)   So I wasn't being outwardly specific, maybe should have said early 90's.  For what it's worth, Godwin's Law originated in 1990.  So I don't think that a reference to 1992 was too far off from pegging a general timeframe when the conditions were prime for frequent flamewars:

1) Internet usage was moving off of segmented local services (e.g. BBS's) and over to the internet
2) It was very common for local systems to offer local usenet services as opposed to some sort of direct connection (SLIP wasn't in-vogue just yet, though it was RFC'd in 1988 but there weren't a lot of service providers that did SLIP at the time).  Therefore exposure to the internet for the masses was in a more offline sort of format going through service providers as a buffer of sorts, thus making Usenet really well-suited to the needs of the time.
3) Increasing popularity attracting more stupid people who required even less knowledge to get connected, and therefore spew their insanity to the masses at speeds not known before.

Combine the three and you have an early version of the internet, complete with flaming idiots running around and trolls lurking under bridges (or rather, in their parents' basements.)  :-D  I had assumed that the trolls had moved on to website forums where they can flame at will, and that usenet has become used only by those who actually remember it is there.  Seems not all the trolls have moved on though.  **sigh**

-B

> Do not fold, spindle or mutilate; keep away from souces of magnetism.
> Do not use near fire or water. If ingested, do not induce vomiting.