USENET, the OG social network, rises again like a text-only phoenix

ZeroCool@feddit.ch to Technology@lemmy.world – 512 points –
USENET, the original social network, is under new management
theregister.com
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One of the things that contributed to the downfall of USENET was when people worked out how to post binary files, encoded as multi-part blocks of ASCII text. It still has piracy problems but you can just ignore that stuff.

Ignore all the software pirates over there. Yes, sir, the ones sitting at the free bar full of top shelf liquor with strippers on each side. Yup, better not go over there.

In fact we'll provide you with a handy list of all of the places you should absolutely avoid. Indexed by interest and type even!

I would hate for people to see this index of places with potentially illegal content. The temptation is just too high. I'll gladly guard it from innocent users with you. My eyes and heart are ready to protect the realm.

Oh world, that itching in my fingers! Some FOSS client for android that you can recommend?

Oh no, we wouldn't want that to happen.

Want to make sure you don't accidentally download that new Mario movie? Definitely don't visit these files in order. Should you, accidentally, encounter something that looks like the Mario movie, simply check if it matches this sha256 sum. If it doesn't, you're still in the clear.

Stay safe out there, you upright citizen!

First and second rules exist for a reason.

These two rules caused Usenet to be abandoned by people who were once passionate about being part of the community, and instead taken over by spammers and bots.

strippers? You mean the cocaine and hookers and cuban cigars, as well as all the blue label you can consume!

You should never go to usenet, you will see unbridled speed for nzb downloads, that are blindingly fast compared to that p2p stuff. Oh and actually 0-days the p2p sites get weeks later.

Back in the day I used to download the entirety of alt.music.indie (or whatever it was called) and spend weeks giving an honest listen to every album. I found so many artists through Usenet

it's interesting bullshit if the article author actually things that binaries were the problem. What ended the usenet was google groups providing a gateway to the usenet for people who had no idea what the usenet was. Lots of dumb users posting low quality content, and eventually bots spamming all relevant groups. Binaries had been around forever, in dedicated newsgroups, and they most certainly did not contribute to the downfall of usenet, if anything, the opposite.

Dude. You killed the Piped bot.

LOL I noticed just now - but it appears by @glassware explanation that it wasn't actually my link, but a patch that would have affected every link posted to which piped reacts

It's at 91 replies to itself. It was at 25 when I posted that 2 hours ago. I wonder how long it will be allowed to continue?

Looks like they commited a change to Piped bot two hours ago which accidentally removed the functionality to actually change the link. Whoops!

Do you have a name / user id of a piped bot developer? Because while we're at it, I think that bot should also avoid responding to itself - which would also prevent such a scenario completely.

Absolutely. I tried getting back into Usenet a few years ago and it was like Yahoo Answers.

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

the opposite.

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

the opposite.

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

the opposite.

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

the opposite.

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

the opposite.

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

the opposite.

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

the opposite.

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

the opposite.

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

the opposite.

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

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