A death on Usenet: Sharon Lopatka and the strange case of “consensual murder”

Re:A death on Usenet: Sharon Lopatka and the strange case of... by weinzierl on Sunday July 03, 2016 @02:03PM (#12026974)

> She also took to Usenet newsgroups. In 1996, these newsgroups were the internet’s social backbone, a primitive and more tribal forerunner of Facebook.

Oh, irony. I know what the author means but to someone that knows Usenet from 1996 and Facebook from 2016 this must sound like an insult.

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Re:A death on Usenet: Sharon Lopatka and the strange case of... by espadrine on Sunday July 03, 2016 @02:15PM (#12027018)

As someone that did not live through pre-Eternal September Usenet, what did it have that Facebook and Reddit do not?

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Re:A death on Usenet: Sharon Lopatka and the strange case of... by rwmj on Sunday July 03, 2016 @02:32PM (#12027088)

It wasn't a million miles away from what HN and Reddit are today, or perhaps more select sites like LtU[1]. People used their own real names, and even real physical addresses and phone numbers(!), partly because most had access through a university or company which might enforce[2] that, but partly because the risks were low and/or not well understood. I spent many, many happy hours reading through postings on comp.unix.wizards when I should have been working. Oh and nobody ever top-posted (yay!)

[1] http://lambda-the-ultimate.org/

[2] Very loosely - it was possible, indeed simple, to spoof postings.

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Re:A death on Usenet: Sharon Lopatka and the strange case of... by weinzierl on Sunday July 03, 2016 @02:28PM (#12027069)

I can't comment on the pre-Eternal September Usenet because I only joined 1995.

I wouldn't compare Usenet back then to Facebook, not even to Reddit. If I had to compare it with something we have today it would be HN and Stackoverflow. A place where one could interact with interesting people and a place to satisfy ones thirst for knowledge.

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