So, where did we leave off?
Oh, right. January 1, 1983. When TCP/IP became the official protocol for all interconnected networks. Well, what am I here to talk about now? I mean, the internet’s here. We have it! Story’s over! Right?
Well…not quite. See, this is the Mesopotamia of the internet. Beforehand, we were internet Neanderthals, running wild with reckless abandon. The TCP/IP protocol firmly established the rules and regulations of the way the internet actually…well, communicated. Now, entire worlds could be created, websites developed, online blogs to be read! Kinda. Those come later.
Usenet groups and chatrooms were the next actual step. Websites we know and love and use everyday didn’t come immediately after the internet. The language and framework for websites (HTML) simply wasn’t in place yet. So, to share information and ideas, the best method were Usenet groups.
Now, Usenet groups WERE around before the TCP/IP came into effect. ARPANET and other networks each had their own chat rooms for communicating with each other on that specific network. The difference there was “specific.” Usenet groups beforehand simply didn’t have the capacity to talk to others on a different network.
Once the TCP/IP was established, the world of interconnected communication exploded! Usenet forums could finally talk to other Usenet forums about any topic they could possibly want! It was a renaissance (to harken back to the Mesopotamia metaphor)!
You may be wondering what a Usenet is (don’t worry, a lot of people don’t know either). Think of a Usenet as a local bulletin board. Anyone can put anything up, and any amount of conversation can be had regarding the topic. It’s completely open as well, so once you joined one, you could simply talk and leave whenever you wanted!
The problem with Usenet groups was their inherent lack of sustainability. Messages were deleted after a short amount of time, and they simply couldn’t hold the capacity for large scale communication like we’ve grown accustomed to today. So how did we get to that point?