History
As Usenet has few technologically or legally enforced hierarchies, just about the only ones that formed were social hierarchies. People acquired power through persuasion, exerted both publicly and privately, public debate, force of will (often via aggressive flames), garnering authority and respect by spending much time and effort contributing to the community (by being a maintainer of a FAQ, for example; see also Kibo, etc.).
Credit for organizing the backbone about 1983 is commonly attributed to Gene "Spaf" Spafford, although it is also claimed by Mark Horton. Other prominent members of the cabal were Brian Reid, Richard Sexton, Chuq von Rospach, Neil Crellin and Rick Adams.
Read more about this topic: Backbone Cabal
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The History of the world is not the theatre of happiness. Periods of happiness are blank pages in it, for they are periods of harmony—periods when the antithesis is in abeyance.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
“The history is always the same the product is always different and the history interests more than the product. More, that is, more. Yes. But if the product was not different the history which is the same would not be more interesting.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“Well, for us, in history where goodness is a rare pearl, he who was good almost takes precedence over he who was great.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)