The Usenet Virus: a case history.

[Julien ÉLIE]

Hi all,

In case you do not already know the Old Usenet project (real-time Usenet
30 years ago) - http://olduse.net/

Here is an article posted in October 1988 that is worth reading for
history ("The Usenet Virus"):
http://article.olduse.net/***@sugar.uu.net


P.-S.: comp.unix.wizards and comp.sys.amiga (at this top-level) no
longer exist.

[JAB]

On Sun, 4 Nov 2018 21:15:48 +0100, Julien ÉLIE

!nntp.google.com!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail
Newsgroups: comp.misc,news.misc,misc.news.internet.discuss
Subject: The Usenet Virus: a case history.
Date: Sun, 4 Nov 2018 21:15:48 +0100
Organization: TrigoFACILE -- http://www.trigofacile.com/
X-Mozilla-News-Host: snews://news.individual.net:563
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.13; rv:52.0)
Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/52.9.1
Content-Language: fr

Julien ÉLIE uses "Language fr," and posting comes via university in
Berlin

His cites are legit...at least Quad9's DNS server did not see a
threat: https://www.quad9.net/about/

Quad9: IPv4: 9.9.9.9 149.112.112.112 IPv6: 2620:fe::fe 2620:fe::9
====================================

Text based URLs below...FYI


In case you do not already know the Old Usenet project (real-time
Usenet
30 years ago) - http://olduse.net/

Here is an article posted in October 1988 that is worth reading for
history ("The Usenet Virus"):
http://article.olduse.net/***@sugar.uu.net

[RS Wood]

Post by JAB
Julien ÉLIE uses "Language fr,"

He's French!

Post by JAB
and posting comes via university in Berlin

He's using individual.net, one of the best usenet providers out there!

Post by JAB
His cites are legit...at least Quad9's DNS server did not see a
threat: https://www.quad9.net/about/
Quad9: IPv4: 9.9.9.9 149.112.112.112 IPv6: 2620:fe::fe 2620:fe::9
====================================

LOL. He's a mainstay over in the news. hierarchy, and a super nice
guy. We chatted once when I wanted to peer with his site. Glad to know
he's reading and posting here!

[Julien ÉLIE]

Hi RS Wood,

Post by RS Wood

Post by JAB
Julien ÉLIE uses "Language fr,"

He's French!

That's right :)

Post by RS Wood

Post by JAB
and posting comes via university in Berlin

He's using individual.net, one of the best usenet providers out there!

I've been using their server since 2001. It was cis.dfn.de at that
time, and free. As its quality is excellent, I am happy to continue
with individual.net even though it is no longer free (and not that
expansive after all).

The fact is that I'm usually posting via my news server but as I do not
carry the newsgroups this article is posted to, I had to post via
another one!

Post by RS Wood

Post by JAB
His cites are legit...at least Quad9's DNS server did not see a
threat: https://www.quad9.net/about/
Quad9: IPv4: 9.9.9.9 149.112.112.112 IPv6: 2620:fe::fe 2620:fe::9
====================================

LOL. He's a mainstay over in the news. hierarchy, and a super nice
guy. We chatted once when I wanted to peer with his site.

Thanks!
I also greatly appreciated our discussions!

Post by RS Wood
Glad to know he's reading and posting here!

Well, I must admit I am not a regular reader of the Big-8 (except for a
few technical newsgroups in the news.* hierarchy). I just wanted to
share the article I saw in the Old Usenet blog.

Have a nice day all,

[Eli the Bearded]

Post by Julien ÉLIE
Hi all,
In case you do not already know the Old Usenet project (real-time Usenet
30 years ago) - http://olduse.net/
Here is an article posted in October 1988 that is worth reading for

Author:
Peter da Silva `-_-' ***@sugar.uu.net

He was one of the founding forces behind Usenet II:

https://web.archive.org/web/20100224075814/http://www.usenet2.org:80/

And then he left it to rot. I understand you can reach him on Facebook,
but I don't have an account. (He *should* have used his private key
to rmgroup everything before letting the domain expire. Or transferred
control to someone else. He did neither.)

Elijah
------
a bit bitter about that

[Richard Kettlewell]

Post by Eli the Bearded
https://web.archive.org/web/20100224075814/http://www.usenet2.org:80/
And then he left it to rot. I understand you can reach him on Facebook,
but I don't have an account. (He *should* have used his private key
to rmgroup everything before letting the domain expire. Or transferred
control to someone else. He did neither.)

After an initial burst of enthusiasm, nobody used it. When it was
abandoned it was dead.

[JAB]

On Mon, 05 Nov 2018 21:00:15 +0000, Richard Kettlewell

Post by Richard Kettlewell
After an initial burst of enthusiasm, nobody used it. When it was
abandoned it was dead.

It came about in 1998, and was terminated by 2011

During this time period, broadband was coming "online," along with
eCommerce, wide assortment of web based forums, and www based sites
(news, weather, commerce, universities, etc., etc.)

By about 2005, Usenet had taken a big usage hit.

[RS Wood]

Post by Eli the Bearded

Post by Julien ÉLIE
Hi all,
In case you do not already know the Old Usenet project (real-time Usenet
30 years ago) - http://olduse.net/
Here is an article posted in October 1988 that is worth reading for

https://web.archive.org/web/20100224075814/http://www.usenet2.org:80/
And then he left it to rot. I understand you can reach him on Facebook,
but I don't have an account. (He *should* have used his private key
to rmgroup everything before letting the domain expire. Or transferred
control to someone else. He did neither.)
Elijah
------
a bit bitter about that

Usenet II came and went before I got on line, probably. Seems like it never
stood a chance. Pity it wasn't dealt a load of buckshot between the eyes
and given a proper burial. I'd still love to see something equivalent
appear, but I'd reckon the odds are between zero and none these days.

The fact that he's on Facebook is kind of funny.

[Michael Black]

Post by RS Wood

Post by Eli the Bearded

Post by Julien ÉLIE
Hi all,
In case you do not already know the Old Usenet project (real-time Usenet
30 years ago) - http://olduse.net/
Here is an article posted in October 1988 that is worth reading for

https://web.archive.org/web/20100224075814/http://www.usenet2.org:80/
And then he left it to rot. I understand you can reach him on Facebook,
but I don't have an account. (He *should* have used his private key
to rmgroup everything before letting the domain expire. Or transferred
control to someone else. He did neither.)
Elijah
------
a bit bitter about that

Usenet II came and went before I got on line, probably. Seems like it never
stood a chance. Pity it wasn't dealt a load of buckshot between the eyes
and given a proper burial. I'd still love to see something equivalent
appear, but I'd reckon the odds are between zero and none these days.
The fact that he's on Facebook is kind of funny.

It's something I vaguely remember, but as soemthing being discussed, not
something fully implemented. That memory is post 1996. But I'd
completely forgotten about it all. Maybe I'm remembering something else.

Michael

[Huge]

Post by RS Wood

Post by Eli the Bearded

Post by Julien ÉLIE
Hi all,
In case you do not already know the Old Usenet project (real-time Usenet
30 years ago) - http://olduse.net/
Here is an article posted in October 1988 that is worth reading for

https://web.archive.org/web/20100224075814/http://www.usenet2.org:80/
And then he left it to rot. I understand you can reach him on Facebook,
but I don't have an account. (He *should* have used his private key
to rmgroup everything before letting the domain expire. Or transferred
control to someone else. He did neither.)
Elijah
------
a bit bitter about that

Usenet II came and went before I got on line, probably. Seems like it never
stood a chance. Pity it wasn't dealt a load of buckshot between the eyes
and given a proper burial. I'd still love to see something equivalent
appear, but I'd reckon the odds are between zero and none these days.
The fact that he's on Facebook is kind of funny.

None of the Peter da Silvas I can find on FB look like the right person.

[Richard Kettlewell]

Post by Huge
None of the Peter da Silvas I can find on FB look like the right person.

https://www.facebook.com/resuna

[Huge]

Post by Richard Kettlewell

Post by Huge
None of the Peter da Silvas I can find on FB look like the right person.

https://www.facebook.com/resuna

Ah, OK, ta.

[maus]

Post by RS Wood

Post by Julien ÉLIE
Hi all,

The fact that he's on Facebook is kind of funny.

The Thicko's retreat. The Irish government has decided to have an nquiry
into net abuse, so they have cubcontracted it to facebook.

[Huge]

Post by Eli the Bearded

Post by Julien ÉLIE
Hi all,
In case you do not already know the Old Usenet project (real-time Usenet
30 years ago) - http://olduse.net/
Here is an article posted in October 1988 that is worth reading for

https://web.archive.org/web/20100224075814/http://www.usenet2.org:80/
And then he left it to rot. I understand you can reach him on Facebook,
but I don't have an account. (He *should* have used his private key
to rmgroup everything before letting the domain expire. Or transferred
control to someone else. He did neither.)

Given that Usenet 1 (0?) is all but dead, never mind Usenet II, I think
there are bigger things to get incensed about. It's just another kind
of abandonware.

[RS Wood]

Post by Huge
Given that Usenet 1 (0?) is all but dead, never mind Usenet II, I think
there are bigger things to get incensed about. It's just another kind
of abandonware.

It's not dead! It's just pining for the fjords!

[JAB]

Post by RS Wood

Post by Huge
Given that Usenet 1 (0?) is all but dead,

It's not dead!

Google bought Deja Vu's archives, but at some later point, anyone
could start a new group, which was retained on Google's servers. I
accidentally came across some of these groups, which were very
specific, like employment related/etc.

Of course Usenet is not dead...its historical reference information,
mostly now.

The Google Groups Usenet/BBS Archive: A little known but huge chunk of
historical knowledge from 1981-present day - and it's all primary
sources!

https://www.reddit.com/r/history/comments/3dsbnw/the_google_groups_usenetbbs_archive_a_little/

[Michael Black]

Post by JAB

Post by RS Wood

Post by Huge
Given that Usenet 1 (0?) is all but dead,

It's not dead!

Google bought Deja Vu's archives, but at some later point, anyone
could start a new group, which was retained on Google's servers. I
accidentally came across some of these groups, which were very
specific, like employment related/etc.

But that's always been the case. There were local hierarchies that had
limited distribution (or were set that way but often propagated further),
which technically don't count as Usenet. Many an ISP had local newsgroups
that didn't propagate out of their system. Both use the same protocol and
software, they just don't count as Usenet. It makes sense, the software
was there so why not use it for other things?

But I can remember people wanting to create new groups in the local
hierarchy, never doing much to improve the existing newsgroups and not
talking about their favorite topic in the local general newsgroup.

Usenet had to be topic-driven, because up until sometime in the nineties,
tehre were few locations with enough density for discussion to be along
local lines. Maybe at a university, but not much elsewhere. Once
commercial ISPs came along, there was suddenly enough density in most
areas to have local, though defining things by topic had become dominant
by then. So until things built up locally, there wasn't much reason to
create local newsgroups around very specific topics, and in retrospect,
people went elsewhere before the local newsgroups became widely enough
used. They still exist, but nobody used them. I put a lot of time into
the local general newsgroup, and there was too much invasion by
crossposters who better fit into a more Canada wide hierarchy.

Michael

[Huge]

Post by RS Wood

Post by Huge
Given that Usenet 1 (0?) is all but dead,

It's not dead!

No, it isn't. But then, that isn't what I said.

[Eli the Bearded]

Post by Michael Black
But that's always been the case. There were local hierarchies that had
limited distribution (or were set that way but often propagated further),
which technically don't count as Usenet. Many an ISP had local newsgroups
that didn't propagate out of their system. Both use the same protocol and
software, they just don't count as Usenet. It makes sense, the software
was there so why not use it for other things?

Most administrators didn't understand how the "distribution" system
(controlled by the Distribution: header) worked. Usenet II, for example,
specifically limited distribution with "4gh". Only sites approved for
4gh were supposed to get posts with that that header and posts to Usenet
II without that were supposed to be rejected. This method had already
been proven to be viable in a private hierarchy that Peter da Silva used.
(That private hierarchy is still alive even after net.* perished.)

The easy way to do "netnews" is just accept and propagate everything if
it's in a group you want and ignore the distribution rules.

See the three "Administering a Sound Usenet II Site" FAQs at Russ
Allbery's site:
https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/faqs/

I'm pretty sure Russ is the maintainer of INN, one of the big news
server software packages, if not maintainer than at least heavily
involved. Which is probably why he still has those files available.

Elijah
------
does not know what "4gh" is supposed to mean