A group of large-site administrators who pushed through the {Great
Renaming} and reined in the chaos of {Usenet} during most of the
1980s. During most of its lifetime, the Cabal (as it was sometimes
capitalized) steadfastly denied its own existence; it was almost
obligatory for anyone privy to their secrets to respond "There is no
Cabal" whenever the existence or activities of the group were
speculated on in public.
The result of this policy was an attractive aura of mystery. Even a
decade after the cabal {mailing list} disbanded in late 1988
following a bitter internal catfight, many people believed (or
claimed to believe) that it had not actually disbanded but only gone
deeper underground with its power intact.
This belief became a model for various paranoid theories about
various Cabals with dark nefarious objectives beginning with taking
over the Usenet or Internet. These paranoias were later satirized in
ways that took on a life of their own. See {Eric Conspiracy} for one
example. Part of the background for this kind of humor is that many
hackers cultivate a fondness for conspiracy theory considered as a
kind of surrealist art; see the bibliography entry on Illuminatus!
for the novel that launched this trend.
See {NANA} for the subsequent history of "the Cabal".
[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {Lumber Cartel}{NANA}{TINC}]