Eternal September
Encyclopedia
Eternal September is a Usenet
slang expression, coined by Dave Fischer, for the period beginning September 1993. The expression encapsulates the belief that an endless influx of new users (newbie
s) since that date has continuously degraded standards of discourse and behavior on Usenet and the wider Internet, to the point that one news provider has adopted the name Eternal September.
originated among Northern hemisphere universities
, where every year in September, a large number of new university freshmen acquired access to Usenet for the first time, and took some time to acclimatise to the network's standards of conduct and "netiquette
". After a month or so, these new users would theoretically learn to comport themselves according to its conventions, or simply tire of using the service. September thus heralded the peak influx of disruptive newcomers to the network.
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 students. This was in part because AOL made little effort to educate its users about Usenet customs, or to 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 quickly settle down, the sheer number of new AOL users now threatened to overwhelm the existing Usenet culture's capacity to inculcate its social norms.
Since that time, the dramatic rise in the popularity of the Internet has brought a constant stream of new users. Thus, from the point of view of the pre-1993 Usenet user, the regular "September" influx of new users never ended. The term was used by Dave Fischer in a January 26, 1994, post to alt.folklore.computers, "It's moot now. September 1993 will go down in net.history as the September that never ended."
Some ISPs have eliminated binary groups (Telus
in Canada) and others have dropped Usenet altogether (Comcast, AT&T). On February 9, 2005, AOL discontinued newsgroup access through its service, which it announced on January 25, 2005. On September 16, 2008, Comcast discontinued newsgroup access, previously provided to all its high speed customers. This led some commentators to claim that perhaps September is finally over.
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
slang expression, coined by Dave Fischer, for the period beginning September 1993. The expression encapsulates the belief that an endless influx of new users (newbie
Newbie
Newbie or noob is a slang term for a novice or newcomer, or somebody inexperienced in any profession or activity. Contemporary use can particularly refer to a beginner or new user of computers, often concerning Internet activity, such as online gaming or Linux use...
s) since that date has continuously degraded standards of discourse and behavior on Usenet and the wider Internet, to the point that one news provider has adopted the name Eternal September.
Background
UsenetUsenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
originated among Northern hemisphere universities
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
, where every year in September, a large number of new university freshmen acquired access to Usenet for the first time, and took some time to acclimatise to the network's standards of conduct and "netiquette
Netiquette
Netiquette is a set of social conventions that facilitate interaction over networks, ranging from Usenet and mailing lists to blogs and forums. These rules were described in IETF RFC 1855. However, like many Internet phenomena, the concept and its application remain in a state of flux, and vary...
". After a month or so, these new users would theoretically learn to comport themselves according to its conventions, or simply tire of using the service. September thus heralded the peak influx of disruptive newcomers to the network.
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 students. This was in part because AOL made little effort to educate its users about Usenet customs, or to 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 quickly settle down, the sheer number of new AOL users now threatened to overwhelm the existing Usenet culture's capacity to inculcate its social norms.
Since that time, the dramatic rise in the popularity of the Internet has brought a constant stream of new users. Thus, from the point of view of the pre-1993 Usenet user, the regular "September" influx of new users never ended. The term was used by Dave Fischer in a January 26, 1994, post to alt.folklore.computers, "It's moot now. September 1993 will go down in net.history as the September that never ended."
Some ISPs have eliminated binary groups (Telus
TELUS
Telus is a national telecommunications company in Canada that provides a wide range of telecommunications products and services including internet access, voice, entertainment, video, and satellite television. The company is based in Burnaby, British Columbia, part of Greater Vancouver...
in Canada) and others have dropped Usenet altogether (Comcast, AT&T). On February 9, 2005, AOL discontinued newsgroup access through its service, which it announced on January 25, 2005. On September 16, 2008, Comcast discontinued newsgroup access, previously provided to all its high speed customers. This led some commentators to claim that perhaps September is finally over.
External links
- The September That Never Ended on MeatballWikiMeatballWikiMeatballWiki is a wiki dedicated to online communities, network culture, and hypermedia.Founded in 2000, its original goal was to focus on collaborative hypermedia, but current topics range from intellectual property to cyberpunk to the confusion of URIs....
- Sdate, a UnixUnixUnix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
program that outputs the date of Never Ending September