Ask HN: What is a good history of USENET and/or BBSs?

5 pointslukewrites4 comments

I have very fond memories of participating in discussions on USENET twenty-odd years ago and want to read more about it and the people behind it.

What books/articles/docs/hypertexts would you recommend?

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BBS: The Documentary

http://www.bbsdocumentary.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBS:_The_Documentary

https://archive.org/details/BBS.The.Documentary

Thanks! I remember seeing this in the textfiles.com footer but haven't ever gotten around to buying a copy. I'll put it on the list.

Good question. I don't know of any. I'd like to read something about the ultimate demise of Usenet. I mean, "because of spam" is the easy answer, but why didn't anyone squelch the spam? Some mention should be made of Uunet's "pink" contracts, but there had to be other providers that looked the other way for a little short-term gain.

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