Eternal September: what actually happened to Usenet in 1993

Before 1993, Usenet had a seasonal rhythm. Most users reached it through universities, so every September a wave of new students arrived, posted without reading the group's FAQ, and were slowly taught the norms by the people already there. By October or November the newcomers had either learned or left. In September 1993, AOL began offering its subscribers access to Usenet. The newcomers kept arriving, month after month, in numbers the existing culture could not absorb. The September that never ended became known as Eternal September (also "the September that never ended"). Why it matters It is the first well-documented case of a community's norms being overwhelmed by a growth rate rather than by any individual bad actor. Every forum since has faced a version of it: a front-page link, an app-store feature, a migration from a dying platform. What the old groups did - FAQs posted regularly to the group, so a newcomer met the norms before they posted. - Moderated groups, where a post had to pass a moderator. - New groups split off when one group's audience diverged. None of them stopped the tide. Moderated groups survived best. What this forum takes from it Board descriptions here say what belongs and what goes elsewhere, because a description is read at the moment someone decides what to post. That is the FAQ lesson, moved to where it gets read. Sources - Wikipedia, "Eternal September": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September - Wikipedia, "Usenet": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet If you were on Usenet before 1993, post what your groups did in September. First-hand accounts with the group name and year are exactly what this board is for.