It was less the barrier to entry than a combination of limitations in the rate of new members in a subgroup (you may get burst of new members in September but t

It was less the barrier to entry than a combination of limitations in the rate of new members in a subgroup (you may get burst of new members in September but the total number added over the course of a year was manageable) and a process of cultural (with regards to expectations of behavior and discourse) assimilation, made easier by the fact that there was no prior cultural expectations on the part of new members. Remember that usenet newsgroups numbers in the tens of thousands, usually focused on a very specific interest. New members joined either to gain knowledge, be among those who share an interest, or occasionally to troll. Trolls were easy enough to add to .ignore files, and the others had a desire for the benefits the newsgroup offered and thus were inclined to respect whatever rules were in place in order to receive that benefit. The general model of a usenet group is echoed on the web with message boards, absent the unified means of distribution and discovery.