Imminent Death Of The Net Predicted!

Imminent Death Of The Net Predicted!

(messaging)Since Usenet first got off the ground in1980-81, it has grown exponentially, approximately doubling insize every year. On the other hand, most people feel thesignal-to-noise ratio of Usenet has dropped steadily.These trends led, as far back as mid-1983, to predictions ofthe imminent collapse (or death) of the net. Ten years andnumerous doublings later, enough of these gloomyprognostications have been confounded that the phrase"Imminent Death Of The Net Predicted!" has become a runningjoke, hauled out any time someone grumbles about the S/N ratio or the huge and steadily increasing volume, or thepossible loss of a key node or link, or the potential forlawsuits when ignoramuses post copyrighted material etc.