response 76 of 77:

Nov 22 18:10 UTC 1997

The Ann Arbor factor is probably a historical accident due to the success
of M-Net in the mid- to late-80s.  A whole pile of people, some technically
inclined and some not, became addicted to community-based conferencing.
In the early 90s Grex and the present M-Net established user-controlled
systems, with part of the early M-Netters going to Grex and the other
part staying with M-Net.