Eternal September

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Eternal September (also Never-ending September, September that never ended, perpetual September, or endless September)[1] in the Jargon File is a Usenet slang expression, coined by Dave Fischer, for the period beginning September 1993.[2] These expressions encapsulate the belief that an endless influx of newbies since that date has continuously degraded standards of discourse and behavior on Usenet (and the wider Internet).

[edit] Background

Usenet originated among universities, so, every year in September, a large number of new university students acquired access to Usenet, and took some time to acclimate themselves to the network's standards of conduct and netiquette. After a month or so, these new users would (it was supposed) learn to comport themselves according to its conventions. September, thus, heralded the peak influx of disruptive newcomers to the network.

“ Right now it's summer, and most schools are on vacation, and a sizable percentage of other people are in the same state. So the net is quieter. Yet it's still growing. Will the return of all these people, plus the usual growth, be the final straw for the net? ”

—Brad Templeton, posting to net.news, July 12, 1984[3]

In 1993, the online service America Online began offering Usenet access to its tens of thousands, and later millions, of users. To many "old-timers", these "AOLers" were far less prepared to learn netiquette than university freshmen. This was, in part, because AOL took few pains to educate its users about Usenet customs — or even explain to them that these new-found forums were not simply another piece of AOL's service. But it was also a result of the much larger scale of growth. Whereas the regular September freshman influx would soon settle down, the sheer number of new users now threatened to overwhelm the existing Usenet culture's capacity to inculcate its social norms.[4]

Since that time, the dramatic rise in the popularity of the Internet has brought a constant stream of new users — in some people's view, drowning out the old Usenet entirely. Thus, from the point of view of the pre-1993 Usenet user, the regular "September" influx of new users never ended.

The term was first used by Dave Fischer in a January 26, 1994, post to alt.folklore.computers:[5]

“ It's moot now. September 1993 will go down in net.history as the September that never ended. ”

The gag is at times extended — for instance, the notional future date at which Usenet discourse will become sensible, mature, and educated has been called "October 1, 1993". An attempt to hurry the arrival of that date is being made by the proponents of Usenet II.

On February 9, 2005, AOL discontinued newsgroup access through its service (this was announced on January 25, 2005[6][7]).

[edit] References

  1. ^ Eric Raymond. September that never ended. The Jargon File (version 4.4.7). Retrieved on 2007-10-10.
  2. ^ net.wars Chapter 1, Wendy M. Grossman, NYU Press, 1998.
  3. ^ Brad Templeton (1984-07-12). "Is the death of the net coming in September?". net.news. (Web link). Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
  4. ^ net.wars, op. cit., Chapter 3.
  5. ^ Dave Fischer (1994-01-26). "Weeks? hah!!". alt.folklore.computers. (Google Groups). Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
  6. ^ "AOL ditches newsgroups", The Register, 2005-01-25. Retrieved on 2007-03-23. 
  7. ^ "AOL Kills Usenet Access", Slashdot, 2005-01-25. Retrieved on 2007-03-23. 

[edit] External links