The more things change the more they stay the same. Discussions in Usenet had exactly the same topics and flavour as forums and twitter today. Guns, abortions

The more things change the more they stay the same. Discussions in Usenet had exactly the same topics and flavour as forums and twitter today. Guns, abortions, free speech (including the old 'fire in a crowded theatre' trope). Also present was various shades of mental illness, including the benign and the performative and narcissistic. Netnews was nicknamed 'nutnoise' for a reason. You might find this sad but I find it strangely comforting. People in large semi-anonymous communities are predictable. At least things won't get (much) worse.