Alt.* hierarchy: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 04:23, 10 July 2021

Revision as of 12:59, 5 October 2021

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In particular, the creation of the ''talk.*'' hierarchy for discussions of controversial or sensitive issues by the renaming did not go well. The ''alt.*'' hierarchy was suggested as an alternative to ''talk.*'' by Brian Reid.<ref>[http://www.livinginternet.com/u/ui_alt.htm Alt Hierarchy History – Brian Reid, Usenet Newsgroups, Backbone Administrators<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> It would be a [[digital network|network]] without the backbones, thereby free from backbones' influences on creating or not creating a new newsgroup. The first newsgroup on alt hierarchy was his ''alt.gourmand''.

The prefix "alt" refers to the fact that it is a "hierarchy that is 'alternative' to the 'mainstream' (comp, misc, news, rec, soc, sci and talk) hierarchies". The "So You Want to Create an Alt Newsgroup" FAQ repeats a common joke that the name "alt" is an acronym for "Anarchists, Lunatics, and Terrorists".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://grahammitchell.com/usenet/newalt.html|title=So You Want to Create an Alt Newsgroup |author=Graham Mitchell |access-date=2019-07-15}}</ref>

Alt has since become home for a wide variety of things that did not fit elsewhere. In particular, there are many ''alt.fan'' newsgroups, mostly devoted to discussions of the work and life of famous people: writers, musicians, actors and [[Sportsperson|athletes]] have ''alt.fan'' groups. This sub-hierarchy has also been used for self-promotion by otherwise unknown people. During the notorious [[trial (law)|trial]] of [[Karla Homolka]], ''alt.fan.karla-homolka'' was created to get around the Canadian news blackout on the case.

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==Censorship==

In June 2008, it was announced that [[Sprint Corporation|Sprint]] and [[Verizon Communications|Verizon]] would be cutting off access to the ''alt.*'' hierarchy to their subscribers, citing [[child pornography]] as the only reason. New York State Attorney General [[Andrew Cuomo]] claimed his office found child porn in 88 of the 100,000 groups that exist on ''alt.*''.<ref>[{{Cite news |url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-9964895-38.html |title=N.Y. attorney general forces ISPs to curb Usenet access] – Politics and Law – |work=[[CNET News]] (|date=June 10, 2008 12:09|author=Declan PM PDT)Posted byMcCullagh |author-link=Declan McCullagh }}</ref><ref>[{{Cite news |url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUKN0930574820080611 |title=Internet companies to block child porn sites] – (Technology) |publisher=[[Reuters]] – Tue |date=June 10, 2008 8:04pm BST (Reporting by |author1=Christopher Kaufman and |author2=Yinka Adegoke; Editing by Louise Heavens and Braden Reddall)}}</ref><ref>[{{Cite news |url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-9967119-38.html |title=Verizon offers details of Usenet deletion: alt.* groups, others gone |work=[[CNET News]] – |date=June 12, 2008 11:37|author=Declan AM PDT Posted byMcCullagh |author-link=Declan McCullagh (The Iconoclast – politics, law, and technology) – CNET News.com}}</ref>

Verizon has not blocked ''alt.*'' from users, but has simply stopped maintaining the ''alt.*'' hierarchy on their own servers. Verizon subscribers can still access the ''alt.*'' hierarchy through a third-party Usenet service.