A death on Usenet: Sharon Lopatka and the strange case of “consensual murder”

I can't comment on the pre-Eternal September Usenet because I only joined 1995.

I wouldn't compare Usenet back then to Facebook, not even to Reddit. If I had to compare it with something we have today it would be HN and Stackoverflow. A place where one could interact with interesting people and a place to satisfy ones thirst for knowledge.

It wasn't a million miles away from what HN and Reddit are today, or perhaps more select sites like LtU[1]. People used their own real names, and even real physical addresses and phone numbers(!), partly because most had access through a university or company which might enforce[2] that, but partly because the risks were low and/or not well understood. I spent many, many happy hours reading through postings on comp.unix.wizards when I should have been working. Oh and nobody ever top-posted (yay!)

[1] http://lambda-the-ultimate.org/

[2] Very loosely - it was possible, indeed simple, to spoof postings.