Eternal September or the September that never ended[1] is Usenet slang for a period beginning around 1993[2] when Internet service providers[2] began offering Usenet access to many new users. The flood of new users overwhelmed the existing culture for online forums and the ability to enforce existing norms. AOL followed with their Usenet gateway service in March 1994,[3] leading to a constant stream of new users. Hence, from the early Usenet point of view, the influx of new users in September 1993 never ended.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, Usenet and the internet were generally the domain of dedicated computer professionals and hobbyists; new users joined slowly, in small numbers, and observed and learned the social conventions of online interaction without having much of an impact on the experienced users. The only exception to this was September of every year, when large numbers of first-year college students gained access to the internet and Usenet through their universities. These large groups of new users who had not yet learned online etiquette created a nuisance for the experienced users, who came to dread September every year. Once ISPs like AOL made internet access widely available for home users, a continuous influx of new users began, which continued through to 2015 according to Jason Koebler, making it feel like it is always "September" to the more experienced users.[4]
The full phrase appears to have evolved over a series of months on two separate alt.folklore newsgroups where a number of threads exist lamenting what they saw as an increase in low-quality posts across various newsgroups. Several members of the newsgroups referenced aspects of the "September" issue, typically in a joking manner.
In a thread on January 8, 1994, Joel Furr cross-posted asking "Is it just me, or has Delphi unleashed a staggering amount of weirdos on the net?", which garnered a reply from Karl Reinsch "Of course it's perpetually September for Delphi users, isn't it?"[5] The day before, Furr had also posted the same message to alt.folklore.urban, where David Fischer responded with a joke call-to-action where he referred to the increasing numbers of Delphi users as the "Never-Ending-September".[6] Fischer also replied to a different thread on January 25, 1994, in alt.folklore.computers saying, "It's moot now. September 1993 will go down in net history as the September that never ended."[7][8] This quote has been suggested to have been the first reference.[9]
Possibly the first use of the "Eternal September" phrase was a newsgroup post by John William Chambless in February 1994. He posted a rant including some excerpts of low-quality articles he found in one of his newsgroups that day, but titled the post "The Eternal September".[10]
Legacy
A tongue-in-cheek program called sdate outputs the current date, formatted using the Eternal September calendar (September X, 1993, where X is an unbounded counter for days since that epoch).[11] This is not the identically named sdate, one of the sixty commands that comes with the First Edition of Unix, that is used to set the system clock.[12] Named with similar humour is one of the few remaining free public Usenet servers (besides Internet Service Providers & colleges providing those for users), Eternal-September.org.
^Grossman, Wendy M. (1997). . Net.wars. New York University Press. pp. 31–41. ISBN978-0-8147-3103-1. OCLC 37451759. Archived from the original on May 5, 2011.
^Koebler, Jason. "It's September, Forever." Vice. 30 September 2015.
^"Run! It's the Delphioids!". Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers. January 8, 1994. Retrieved January 9, 2022.
^"Run! It's the Delphioids!". Newsgroup: alt.folklore.urban. January 12, 1994. Retrieved January 9, 2022.
^"longest USENET thread ever". Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers. January 25, 1994. Retrieved January 9, 2022.
sdate, a Unix program that outputs the date of Never Ending September
January 20, 2023
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Eternal September or the September that never ended 1 is Usenet slang for a period beginning around 1993 2 when Internet service providers 2 began offering Usenet access to many new users The flood of new users overwhelmed the existing culture for online forums and the ability to enforce existing norms AOL followed with their Usenet gateway service in March 1994 3 leading to a constant stream of new users Hence from the early Usenet point of view the influx of new users in September 1993 never ended Contents 1 History 2 Legacy 3 See also 4 References 5 External linksHistory Edit A 1994 t shirt commemorating eternal September During the 1980s and early 1990s Usenet and the internet were generally the domain of dedicated computer professionals and hobbyists new users joined slowly in small numbers and observed and learned the social conventions of online interaction without having much of an impact on the experienced users The only exception to this was September of every year when large numbers of first year college students gained access to the internet and Usenet through their universities These large groups of new users who had not yet learned online etiquette created a nuisance for the experienced users who came to dread September every year Once ISPs like AOL made internet access widely available for home users a continuous influx of new users began which continued through to 2015 according to Jason Koebler making it feel like it is always September to the more experienced users 4 The full phrase appears to have evolved over a series of months on two separate alt folklore newsgroups where a number of threads exist lamenting what they saw as an increase in low quality posts across various newsgroups Several members of the newsgroups referenced aspects of the September issue typically in a joking manner In a thread on January 8 1994 Joel Furr cross posted asking Is it just me or has Delphi unleashed a staggering amount of weirdos on the net which garnered a reply from Karl Reinsch Of course it s perpetually September for Delphi users isn t it 5 The day before Furr had also posted the same message to alt folklore urban where David Fischer responded with a joke call to action where he referred to the increasing numbers of Delphi users as the Never Ending September 6 Fischer also replied to a different thread on January 25 1994 in alt folklore computers saying It s moot now September 1993 will go down in net history as the September that never ended 7 8 This quote has been suggested to have been the first reference 9 Possibly the first use of the Eternal September phrase was a newsgroup post by John William Chambless in February 1994 He posted a rant including some excerpts of low quality articles he found in one of his newsgroups that day but titled the post The Eternal September 10 Legacy EditA tongue in cheek program called sdate outputs the current date formatted using the Eternal September calendar September X 1993 where X is an unbounded counter for days since that epoch 11 This is not the identically named sdate one of the sixty commands that comes with the First Edition of Unix that is used to set the system clock 12 Named with similar humour is one of the few remaining free public Usenet servers besides Internet Service Providers amp colleges providing those for users Eternal September org See also EditJuly effectReferences Edit Eric Raymond September that never ended The Jargon File version 4 4 7 Archived from the original on September 14 2008 a b Grossman Wendy M 1997 The Year September Never Ended Net wars New York University Press pp 4 17 31 41 ISBN 978 0 8147 3103 1 OCLC 37451759 Archived from the original on June 26 2006 Grossman Wendy M 1997 The Making of an Underclass AOL Net wars New York University Press pp 31 41 ISBN 978 0 8147 3103 1 OCLC 37451759 Archived from the original on May 5 2011 Koebler Jason It s September Forever Vice 30 September 2015 Run It s the Delphioids Newsgroup alt folklore computers January 8 1994 Retrieved January 9 2022 Run It s the Delphioids Newsgroup alt folklore urban January 12 1994 Retrieved January 9 2022 longest USENET thread ever Newsgroup alt folklore computers January 25 1994 Retrieved January 9 2022 Issacson Walter 2014 The Innovators How a Group of Inventors Hackers Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution Simon amp Schuster p 401 ISBN 978 1476708690 Koebler Jason September 30 2015 It s September Forever Vice Archived from the original on December 13 2017 The Eternal September Newsgroup alt folklore computers February 8 1994 Retrieved January 10 2022 Never Ending September Date df7cb de df7cb de Archived from the original on February 2 2009 sdate 1 Unix First Edition Manual Page cat v org Archived from the original on May 30 2014 External links Edit 1990s portalTheSeptemberThatNeverEnded at MeatballWiki sdate a Unix program that outputs the date of Never Ending September Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Eternal September amp oldid 1121487186, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
