On Tue, Mar 12, 2002 at 10:26:48AM +0000, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> The phrase 'September that never ended' was already in live use before
> AOL gave Usenet access. I can't now remember whether the Jargon File
> entry cites Prodigy or Delphi as the original offenders, but trust me
> on this, AOL were latecomers. I was there.
>From Jargon File (4.3.0, 30 APR 2001) [jargon]:
September that never ended All time since September 1993. One of the
seasonal rhythms of the Usenet used to be the annual September influx of
clueless newbies who, lacking any sense of {netiquette}, made a general
nuisance of themselves. This coincided with people starting college,
getting their first internet accounts, and plunging in without bothering
to learn what was acceptable. These relatively small drafts of newbies
could be assimilated within a few months. But in September 1993, AOL
users became able to post to Usenet, nearly overwhelming the old-timers'
capacity to acculturate them; to those who nostalgically recall the
period before hand, this triggered an inexorable decline in the quality
of discussions on newsgroups. See also {AOL!}.
--
Niklas Nordebo -><- [EMAIL PROTECTED] -><- +447966251290
thank you mario, but our princess is in another castle
