This is an essay.

It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.

What can wikipedia contributors learn from the USENET?[edit]

There are lessons wikipedia contributors can learn from other projects. In the 1980s there were very vibrant communities discussing a variety of issues, through USENET newsgroups.

How USENET decisions were like wikipedia decisions[edit]

The USENET period predated both the wikipedia, and the graphically oriented world wide web. Contributors visited, or subscribed to, newsgroups, which contributions were supposed to be roughly confined to a specific topic.

There were discussions, not dissimilar to AFD discussions, about whether topics merited a newsgroup. But these discussions took place before a newsgroup was created.

The structure of the USENET was that larger computers, at Universities, research centres, or technology firms, would devote space on their disk drives for the current articles. They would pass on articles to neighbouring USENET computers, when convenient.