View source for Great Moments in Usenet History

''Note well: all claims listed here are subject to further review.  Caveat emptor!''

Corrections & amendments [mailto:moleski@canisius.edu most welcome.]

See [http://www.google.com/googlegroups/archive_announce_20.html "20 Year Archive on Google Groups"] for other highlights.

{| {{Prettytable}}
|-
!Date
!Event
|-
|  1979
|Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Usenet invent a method of sharing news]. 
|-
|  1980
|Usenet, Usenix, UUCP developed as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet "the poor man's ARPANET."] 
|-
|  1981
|net.news split off from net.general to [[Big-8#History_of_news.groups|discuss new newsgroups]]. 
|-
|  1982
|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Horton Mark Horton] creates net.news.group. 
|-
|  1983
|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Horton Mark Horton] creates net.announce, the [http://groups.google.com/group/news.groups/msg/758b2dd9c67f8fab?dmode=source first moderated newsgroup]. 
|-
|  1983
|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaf|Gene Spafford (Spaf)] organizes the [http://communication.ucsd.edu/bjones/Usenet.Hist/Nethist/0015.html backbone]. 
|-
|  1984
|[http://groups.google.com/group/net.news/msg/354c90539a5b0882?hl=en Is the death of the net coming in September?] 
|-
|  1984
|[http://communication.ucsd.edu/bjones/Usenet.Hist/Nethist/0016.html Development of newspaths] improves moderation (B News 2.11). 
|-
|  1986-87
|[[Great renaming|The Great Renaming]]: The Big Seven organized. Roots of the voting system planted. 
|-
|  1986
|net.news.group renamed [[Big-8#History_of_news.groups|news.groups]]. 
|-
|  1987
|[[Alt|alt.* groups]] formed. 
|-
|  1987
|[[Guidelines|First Guidelines for Creation: Spafford, Horton, Adams, Woods, Fair as backbone admins]]. 
|-
|  1988
|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaf Spaf] kills the [http://communication.ucsd.edu/bjones/Usenet.Hist/Nethist/0015.html backbone (The Cabal)]. 
|-
|  1989
|news.announce.newgroups created [http://groups.google.com/group/news.groups/msg/758b2dd9c67f8fab?dmode=source (Greg Woods-->Eliot Lear-->tale, 1989-1991).] 
|-
|  1989
|[http://groups.google.com/group/news.announce.important/msg/d29c0831c57db9f3?hl=en April Fools Called Off]. 
|-
|  1992
|[http://www.kibo.com/kibopost/happynet_94.html Kibo proposes HappyNet]. 
|-
|  1993
|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_That_Never_Ended The September That Never Ended]. 
|-
|  1993
|Formation of [http://groups.google.com/group/news.answers/msg/4dafe9592a7ccb1b?hl=en Usenet Volunteer Votetakers] (UVV) under [http://groups.google.com/group/news.groups/msg/627812702471e035?hl=en Ron "Asbestos" Dippold]. 
|-
|  1993
|[http://groups.google.com/group/soc.net-people/msg/63926ede407972df Spaf burns out, says good-bye]. 
|-
|  1993
|tale (David C. Lawrence) takes over Checkgroups from Spaf; Mark Moraes inherited other lists. 
|-
|  1995
|New humanities hierarchy [ftp://ftp.isc.org/usenet/news.announce.newgroups/humanities/humanities.misc created by a vote of 508:97]. The Big Seven becomes the Big Eight. 
|-
|  1996
|tale [http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?search=news.announce.newgroups&op=index creates the PGP key] used by news.announce.newgroups moderators (1996-04-10). 
|-
|  1997
|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet_II Usenet II] proposed.  [http://www.usenet2.org/ Usenet II home page.] 
|-
|  1998
|[http://www.kibo.com/kibopost/happynet_98.html HappyNet] updated. 
|-
|  2001
|Google's [http://www.google.com/googlegroups/archive_announce_20.html 20-year retrospective of Usenet History.] 
|-
|  2001
|[http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,44923,00.html Jim Ellis, RIP]. 
|-
|  Oct. 13, 2002
|[http://groups.google.com/group/news.announce.newgroups/browse_frm/thread/b078df5a6af7e7c/9ec1d0de06a834b6?lnk=st&q=group%3Anews.announce.newgroups+insubject%3A%22Change+insubject%3Aof+insubject%3AModerators%22&rnum=1&hl=en#9ec1d0de06a834b6 Russ Allbery, Todd McComb, and piranha succeed tale]. 
|-
|  2005
|Old newsgroup creation system suspended.  [http://groups.google.com/group/news.announce.newgroups/browse_frm/thread/8f54e0fdb1810193/81d5f8e28ddf9a52?lnk=st&q=&rnum=10&hl=en#81d5f8e28ddf9a52 Eleven people] tagged to work on a new system. 
|-
|  March 2006
|[[Big-8_Management_FAQ#Where_did_the_Board_come_from.3F|Big-8.org]] opens for business.  skirv preserves one-syllable tradition. 
|-
|  Oct. 1, 2006
|Big-8 Management Board [[Nan:2006-09-30-big-8-transition|confirmed]] by previous n.a.n. moderators. 
|-
|  Oct. 2, 2006
|Death of Usenet.  Film at 11. 
|}
[[Category:History]]