The backbone cabal was an informal organization of large-site
news server administrators of the worldwide distributed
newsgroup
A Usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system for messages posted from users in different locations using the Internet. They are not only discussion groups or conversations, but also a repository to publish articles, start ...
-based discussion system
Usenet
Usenet (), a portmanteau of User's Network, is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose UUCP, Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Elli ...
. It existed from about 1983 until around 1988.
The
cabal was created in an effort to facilitate reliable propagation of new Usenet posts. While in the 1970s and 1980s many
news servers only operated during night time to save on the cost of long-distance communication, servers of the backbone cabal were available 24 hours a day. The administrators of these servers gained sufficient influence in the otherwise anarchic Usenet community to be able to push through controversial changes, for instance the
Great Renaming of
Usenet
Usenet (), a portmanteau of User's Network, is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose UUCP, Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Elli ...
newsgroups during 1987.
History
Mary Ann Horton recruited membership in and designed the original physical topology of the Usenet Backbone in 1983.
Gene "Spaf" Spafford then created an email list of the backbone administrators, plus a few influential posters. This list became known as the Backbone Cabal and served as a "political (i.e. decision making) backbone". Other prominent members of the cabal were
Brian Reid, Richard Sexton, Chuq von Rospach and
Rick Adams.
In internet culture
During most of its existence, the cabal (sometimes capitalized) steadfastly denied its own existence; those involved would often respond "
There is no Cabal" (sometimes abbreviated as "TINC"').
The result of this policy was an aura of mystery, even a decade after the cabal mailing list disbanded in late 1988 following an internal fight.
References
Further reading
* Henry Edward Hardy, 1993.
The Usenet System', ITCA Teleconferencing Yearbook 1993, ITCA Research Committee, International Teleconferencing Association, Washington, DC. pp 140–151, esp. subheading ''"The Great Renaming" and "The Breaking of the Backbone Cartel"''.
External links
Cabal Conspiracy FAQ(archived May 2013)
The Eric Conspiracy
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Usenet
1980s in Internet culture