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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 | accessdate=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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