Editing Backbone cabal (section)

== 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]].