Re: But is UseNet "Social Media"??

On 4/02/2026 2:06 pm, Steve Hayes wrote:
> 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.
> 
As I understand it, use of web browsers in not under discussion .... but
access to some of the sites by those browsers IS what is under discussion.
-- 
Daniel70