I actually started creating my own Geek Code, as I never had one back “in the day”.  Quickly gave up, however, as several sections seemed completely irrelevant in today’s Geek world.

Usenet is all but gone, and today’s modern Geek probably never saw OS/2 or VMS.  Maybe someone should rewrite the Code and replace those sections with more current topics.  Maybe something about Halo or World of Warcraft, cellphones, texting, and MySpace.

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I had almost forgotten about the Geek Code….

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Talking about netiquette a couple days ago got me thinking about the “good ole days” of the Internet – you know, before crass commercialism put a banner add on every web page.

Usenet, although an extremely usesful tool to share information at the time, was also the home of many a Flamer and Troll.  Flamers – Internet flamers, that is – read something on the Internet that they feel is incorrect, offends them, sullies their family name, whatever.  The flamer lashes out at the source of the offense with an over-the-top attack (or flame) that is sure to cause another flame in return.  When the flames get to flying back and forth, you have a flamewar.  Flamewars can be fun as long as they don’t get too personal and make anyone cry.

Along with flamers and flamewars came the troll.  Trolls are people who like to instigate flamewars by posting something so outrageous that a dormant flamer is forced into responding with a flame.  In the Usenet world, a troll would subscribe to a group, learn about the usual subscribers, and then post something so completely ridiculous as to provoke any flamers on the group into a reply flame.

A really successful troll not only generates the initial wave of flames in response, but manages to make sure there are enough people on the other side of the issue to generate a reaction flame back, and then again, etc…

For instance, Linux vs. Windows.  There’ve been Usenet groups, mailing lists, etc… for years and years debating the merits of Linux and Windows.  A really quality troll might write up a post extolling the virtues of Linux, with just enough hatred and mis-characterization of Windows mixed in to really get the Windows-lovers on the group worked up.  The Windows-lovers lash out in response, but not in response to the troll, who’s sitting in his house laughing away.  They’re suckered into lashing out at the Linux-lovers, since that’s where the attack on Windows seems to have come from.  Then the Linux-lovers lash back, and you’ve got a full-on flamewar!  Yay!

Gosh, I miss the old days.

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Aaron’s article about Usenet got me thinking about the “good ole days” in the world of the Internet, when netiquette, or Internet ettiqutte, still existed.

In the early stages of the world wide web, back when gopher, archie and wais were still the main ways of finding and sharing information on the Internet, most users were still on basic dialup connections.   The main backbone connections were still fairly slow in comparison to today.  I remember when it was taboo to reference overseas sites because the trans-Atlantic connections between the US and Europe couldn’t handle the additional traffic.  Bits and bytes were at a premium.

Hence, one of the topics of Netiquette, the rules for email and Usenet signatures.  It was considered offensive at the time to create extensive signatures for email and Usenet that were basically just a waste of bytes.  By general agreement, it was determined that signatures should not exceed 4 lines of text, no more than 80 characters wide.  The 80 character limit was a consideration to those who were still using character terminals that would only display 80 characters per line.

Users replying to previous posts in Usenet were also expected to be conservative when quoting previous responses so as to not be wasteful.  Any reduction in the size of the message, while still preserving clarity, was a possible money-saver on backhaul costs.

These days, bandwidth costs are much less, so the old reasoning behind minimal signatures has gone.  Unfortunately, most Netiquette has gone with it.

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