What I remember most is what a big deal it was when UseNet started allowing ads - I want to say that was 1992 or so. Pre-WWW, UseNet was essentially a big BBS o

What I remember most is what a big deal it was when UseNet started allowing ads - I want to say that was 1992 or so. Pre-WWW, UseNet was essentially a big BBS or social network for information sharing. I helped run the virtual reality newsgroup, sci.virtual-worlds, and the community building that happened as a result of the open sharing of information was incredible. It seemed as if all the experts were connected and willing to discuss their work for the good of the field. You assumed that if a person was on the Net, they were probably at a research institution or site with enough importance to be connected. Advertising your company's products was a real taboo, and people would get booted for it. Don't get me wrong, there were definitely flame wars... but for academic information sharing, the early Net in this period was invaluable.