> 2. It lost control over its culture, and that culture was crucial to its functioning. Precisely. Usenet's "regulars" back in those days were generally IT sta

> 2. It lost control over its culture, and that culture was crucial to its functioning. Precisely. Usenet's "regulars" back in those days were generally IT staffers, with perhaps a professor or three, at any given school, or were IT staffers running news servers at their companies. The regular September flood of new kids discovering Usenet at school was annoying, but manageable. Then the gates were thrown open wide, and netiquette got crushed under the weight of the general public. Once the crooks and con artists discovered it, it was the beginning of the end.