Usenet – Let's Return to Public Spaces

Re:Usenet – Let's Return to Public Spaces by AJ007 on Thursday February 13, 2020 @10:16AM (#22318317)

Right, the unifying thing there is basically about community size. The same thing happens offline. The fact that you had a highly educated user base made a difference too. Early internet users either at a university or affluent and interested enough to pay a lot of money for that use (pre-flat rate AOL.)

A lot of the challenges today are related to community size. Also, a lot of the problems are either solvable or already solved, but just relate to platforms wanting maximum user growth/monetization so they disregard those early learned lessons. Just take a look at the stuff Randall Farmer has written. These are lessons dating back to easy online communities in the 1980s.

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Re:Usenet – Let's Return to Public Spaces by flir on Thursday February 13, 2020 @12:12PM (#22319377)

I think you're mistaking "educated" for "similar". The community don't necessarily have to be educated, but it helps a lot if they're broadly similar in some way. Same background, same age, same goal, same education, same interests, something.

(And lets be honest, the reason size is a problem is because beyond a certain point, you can't do human moderation).

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