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:
“I believe my ardour for invention springs from his loins. I can’t say that the brassiere will ever take as great a place in history as the steamboat, but I did invent it.”
—Caresse Crosby (1892–1970)
“All things are moral. That soul, which within us is a sentiment, outside of us is a law. We feel its inspiration; out there in history we can see its fatal strength.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Like their personal lives, women’s history is fragmented, interrupted; a shadow history of human beings whose existence has been shaped by the efforts and the demands of others.”
—Elizabeth Janeway (b. 1913)