Re: But is UseNet "Social Media"??

On 3 Feb 2026 15:42:46 GMT, Frank Slootweg <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Mr. Man-wai Chang <[email protected]> wrote:
>> On 2/2/2026 12:24 AM, Frank Slootweg wrote:
>> > 
>> >    I normally also object to back-dating the use of the term 'app' by
>> > several decades, but if you substitute 'app' by 'program' (or
>> > 'application', etc.), then for all intents and purposes, for the user,
>> > Usenet *was* a program, which read/posted articles from/to the *local*
>> > 'spool'. A client program, reading/posting directly from/to a remote
>> > news server came only much later. Remember, NetNews/Usenet *predates*
>> > the Internet by quite a number of years.
>> 
>> I disagree! Usenet is a service network, in which apps and programs like 
>> newsreaders can use it. Usenet itself is NOT an app nor a program.
>
>  Nitpicking! :-) Note that I said "for the user".
>
>  Any definition/explanation can - and probably will be - debated. For
>me, "service network" it quite meaningless, *what* kind of service?
>"communication network" isn't much better.

The question is not what any of us think, but just what it is that
Australian and other laws prohibit persons of certain ages from
accessing. 

Prohibiting apps, like web browsers, would cut them off from a great
deal more than social media.


-- 
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web:  http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk