Usenet Forums: The Internet Learns to Argue (1980-Early 2000s)

Before Twitter threads and Reddit drama, there was Usenet—a digital utopia-turned-chaotic battlefield where flame wars were born, niche communities thrived, and the seeds of online chaos were planted.

Screenshot of Slrn, an open-source Usenet newsreader program that highlights the simplicity and functionality of navigating newsgroups in the Usenet era. Licensed under the GNU General Public License.

A Humble Beginning: The Birth of Usenet

Let’s set the stage: It’s 1980. The Cold War is in full swing, disco is dying (thankfully), and two nerdy Duke University students, Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis, are about to change the game. Their creation? Usenet—a network for sharing messages across computers. Imagine an early Reddit, but with less cat videos and far more arguments about programming languages.

At its core, Usenet was a glorified message board. Users posted to “newsgroups,” organized by topic, and other users replied. It was simple, but revolutionary. Back then, this wasn’t just cutting-edge—it was wizardry. Usenet quickly became a haven for academics, tech geeks, and sci-fi nerds who finally had a place to argue about Star Wars without leaving their basements.