History UsefulNotes / EternalSeptember

The upshot was that every September, there would be [[NewbieBoom a large influx of new users]]: college students accessing the Internet for the first time. These newbies were not privy to the manners and folkways of Internet discussion, let alone the technical side of it. Established netizens took it upon themselves to teach the n00bs the netiquette, and within a few months the Internet would go back to being a place for sensible and intelligent discussion.[[note]][[HilariousInHindsight Stop laughing]]. We may not have had [=BitTorrent=] or Website/{{Twitter}}, but the early Internet had its charms; spam didn't exist outside of the "Make Money Fast" chain-letter, and {{troll}}s could literally be shamed off the 'net (well, except maybe Creator/{{Kibo}}, but that ''might'' have had more to do with the fact that he was less of a troll and more of a '90s version of [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ken-m Ken M]]).[[/note]]

Then, in 1993, AOL opened up the then-dominant [[{{fora}} forum]] of the 'net, UsefulNotes/{{Usenet}}, to ''every'' customer, and Usenet was overrun. The social structure that had worked fine to incorporate a relative handful of newcomers was ineffective in a world where the newcomers vastly outnumbered the old guard. Worse, for every newbie that could be civilized or driven off, more and more took their place immediately. This is the Eternal September, the age the Internet now lives in; most of the old guard are gone, vanished, or formed more minor net societies within the larger Internet as a whole. The event was [[TropeNamers given its name]] in a January 1994 alt.folklore.computers thread wherein users wondered what was the longest running thread on Usenet: when another user wondered whether the ever-present "September threads" counted as one continuous thread, [[https://groups.google.com/g/alt.folklore.computers/c/wF4CpYbWuuA/m/jS6ZOyJd10sJ Dave Fischer noted]] that the problem was moot by now, because September '93 would be remembered as "the September that never ended".

Although it's often used as a derogatory term, Eternal September wasn't necessarily a ''bad'' thing. It's nearly impossible to imagine such things as wikis or Website/YouTube in the pre-1993 environment, even if the technology could have supported them - or to put it another way, ''you wouldn't be reading this page''. In becoming less "elite", the Internet became less insular and more user-friendly. While it's inarguable that there were losses, [[AWorldHalfFull it would be the height of stupidity to claim nothing was gained]].

Back in the '80s and early '90s, few people could access TheInternet, even if they'd somehow heard of it and wanted to access it in the first place. One of the few groups that ''could'' was college students: universities were among the very first Internet adopters, and college-affiliated people, especially students, were one of the main demographic groups on the Internet through the first half of TheNineties. The few commercial [=ISPs=] that emerged largely catered to a technically sophisticated clientele who were already familiar with UsefulNotes/{{UNIX}} and internet concepts, particularly graduating students who didn't want to lose access to the network as they entered the workforce.

Then, in 1993, AOL opened up the then-dominant [[{{fora}} forum]] of the 'net, UsefulNotes/{{Usenet}}, to ''every'' customer, and Usenet was overrun. The social structure that had worked fine to incorporate a relative handful of newcomers was ineffective in a world where the newcomers vastly outnumbered the old guard. Worse, for every newbie that could be civilized or driven off, more and more took their place immediately. This is the Eternal September, the age the Internet now lives in; most of the old guard are gone, vanished, or formed more minor net societies within the larger Internet as a whole.

The upshot was that every September, there would be a large influx of new users: college students accessing the Internet for the first time. These newbies were not privy to the manners and folkways of Internet discussion, let alone the technical side of it. Established netizens took it upon themselves to teach the n00bs the netiquette, and within a few months the Internet would go back to being a place for sensible and intelligent discussion.[[note]][[HilariousInHindsight Stop laughing]]. We may not have had [=BitTorrent=] or Website/{{Twitter}}, but the early Internet had its charms; spam hadn't been invented yet outside of the "Make Money Fast" chain-letter, and {{troll}}s could literally be shamed off the 'net (well, except maybe Creator/{{Kibo}}, but that ''might'' have had more to do with the fact that he was less of a troll and more of a 90s Internet version of [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ken-m Ken M]]).[[/note]]

Then, in 1993, AOL opened up the then-dominant [[{{fora}} forum]] of the 'net, Website/{{Usenet}}, to ''every'' customer, and Usenet was overrun. The social structure that had worked fine to incorporate a relative handful of newcomers was ineffective in a world where the newcomers vastly outnumbered the old guard. Worse, for every newbie that could be civilized or driven off, more and more took their place immediately. This is the Eternal September, the age the Internet now lives in; most of the old guard are gone, vanished, or formed more minor net societies within the larger Internet as a whole.

Since the local culture is too overwhelmed to pass on its customs and social structures, what most often happens is that the old society vanishes and chaos reigns for a while until a new society, with its own rules and customs, can form; alternatively, the older members will attempt to isolate themselves from the newer members. This doesn't always work. A comparison may be drawn to the TwilightOfTheOldWest or urban gentrification.

Since the local culture is too overwhelmed to pass on its customs and social structures, what most often happens is that the old society vanishes and chaos reigns for a while until a new society, with its own rules and customs, can form; alternatively, the older members will attempt to isolate themselves from the newer members. This doesn't always work. A comparison may be drawn to the [[TheWildWest Old West]] in general, and ''{{Series/Deadwood}}'' and ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'' in particular. Or for a more modern example, gentrification.

Back in the '80s and early '90s, few people could access TheInternet, even if they'd somehow heard of it and wanted to access it in the first place. One of the few groups that ''could'' was college students: universities were among the very first Internet adopters, and college-affiliated people, especially students, were one of the main demographic groups on the Internet through the first half of TheNineties. The few commercial [=ISPs=] that emerged largely catered to a technically sophisticated clientele, particularly graduating students who didn't want to lose access to the network as they entered the workforce.

Back in the '80s and early '90s, few people could access TheInternet, even if they'd somehow heard of it and wanted to access it in the first place. One of the few groups that ''could'' was college students: universities were among the very first Internet adopters, and college-affiliated people, especially students, were one of the main demographic groups on the Internet through the first half of TheNineties.

* ''Literature/JargonFile''

The upshot was that every September, there would be a large influx of new users: college students accessing the Internet for the first time. These newbies were not privy to the manners and folkways of Internet discussion, let alone the technical side of it. Established netizens took it upon themselves to teach the n00bs the netiquette, and within a few months the Internet would go back to being a place for sensible and intelligent discussion.[[note]][[HilariousInHindsight Stop laughing.]] We may not have had [=BitTorrent=] or Website/{{Twitter}}, but the early Internet had its charms; spam hadn't been invented yet outside of the "Make Money Fast" chain-letter, and {{troll}}s could literally be shamed off the 'net (well, except maybe Creator/{{Kibo}}, but that ''might'' have had more to do with the fact that he was less of a troll and more of a 90s Internet version of [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ken-m Ken M]]).[[/note]]

See also NewbieBoom for the general concept behind Eternal September, and ItsPopularNowItSucks for the type of reaction it caused.

See also NewbieBoom and ItsPopularNowItSucks.