Alt.* hierarchy: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 01:07, 22 July 2010

Revision as of 01:07, 22 July 2010

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The birth of the ''alt.*'' hierarchy is tied to a drastic transformation of the Usenet, the [[Great Renaming]] of 1987. The "backbone carriers", or the [[backbone cabal]] as they have been referred to by some users of the [[Usenet]], were vital hubs in the distribution chain of most of the newsgroup postings. Their effort to change the way newsgroups are organized led to objections from some vocal Usenet users.

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 (computer scientist)|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,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=http://www.faqs.org/faqs/alt-creation-guide/|title=So You Want to Create an Alt Newsgroup | accessdate=2007-05-27|date=2008-07-12}}</ref>.