Editing Backbone cabal

{{Short description|Group of administrators on Usenet}}
The '''backbone cabal''' was an informal organization of large-site [[news server]] [[Sysop|administrators]] of the worldwide distributed [[newsgroup]]-based discussion system [[Usenet]]. It existed from about 1983 until around 1988.<ref>{{Cite web|title=
The History of the Net|url=https://www.cs.kent.edu/~javed/internetbook/nethistory/nethist.html|access-date=2024-11-14|website=KentStateUniversity|language=en-US}}</ref>

The [[cabal]] was created in an effort to facilitate reliable propagation of new Usenet posts. While in the 1970s and 1980s many [[news server]]s 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]] newsgroups during 1987.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Modern Usenet Newsgroup Hierarchies History|url=https://broadbandnow.com/internet/u/ui_modern.htm|access-date=2020-10-26|website=BroadbandNow|language=en-US}}</ref>

== History ==
[[Mary Ann Horton]] recruited membership in<ref>[https://groups.google.com/d/msg/net.news/ofK8vw8_0iw/ALocRFpIfdcJ/ Usenet posting: "backbone sites needed"], by Mark (now Mary Ann) Horton, 15 February 1983</ref> and designed the original physical topology of the Usenet Backbone in 1983.<ref>[https://groups.google.com/d/msg/net.news/j5VzSthSX_g/97VUfHIpYm0J/ Usenet posting: "proposed USENET backbone"], by Mark (now Mary Ann) Horton, 21 March 1983</ref> [[Gene Spafford|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".<ref>[https://shikan.org/bjones/Usenet.Hist/Nethist/0060.html Usenet History email: "Usenet backbone"], by Gene Spafford, 17 October 1990</ref> Other prominent members of the cabal were [[Brian Reid (computer scientist)|Brian Reid]], Richard Sexton, Chuq von Rospach and [[Rick Adams (Internet pioneer)|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"'<ref>{{cite news |title=TINC
 |url=http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/T/TINC.html |publisher=[[The Jargon File]] |access-date=August 15, 2020 }}</ref>).

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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/defineterm.jhtml?term=backbone+cabal |title=backbone cabal |publisher=TechWeb|access-date=2007-09-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927000916/http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/defineterm.jhtml?term=backbone+cabal |archive-date=2007-09-27}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Henry Edward Hardy, 1993. ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20111101160821/http://internet.eserver.org/Hardy-Usenet-System.txt 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==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130524051637/http://www.faqs.org/faqs/usenet/cabal-conspiracy-FAQ/ Cabal Conspiracy FAQ] (archived May 2013)
* [http://www.catb.org/esr/jargon/html/L/Lumber-Cartel.html Lumber Cartel]
* [http://catb.org/~esr/ecsl/ The Eric Conspiracy]

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* [[Image:PD-icon.svg|15px|link=|alt=]]&nbsp;''This article incorporates text from [http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/B/backbone-cabal.html the corresponding entry in the Jargon File], which is in the [[public domain]] according to [http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/online-preface.html its Introduction].''

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[[Category:Usenet]]
[[Category:1980s in Internet culture]]