Neverending September

Well certainly the net's existence predates 1993[1], even business presence on the net. I'm talking about the general public. The unwashed masses. The constant daily tsunami of newbies that put the September bubble to shame, which began The Neverending September, well over 2000 days long and still counting. […] (Perhaps the Jargon File should also mention the variant form, "The Neverending September", backformed from the Michael Ende book and Disney movie title, "The Neverending Story".)

1999 November 15, greg@apple2.com, “Birth of the Neverending September (was: Re: Netiquette)”, in alt.folklore.computers (Usenet), archived from the original on 08 Dec 2025

Not your fault, mind you. You might just not have been taking part in newsgroups with a more senior postership and had no good examples from senior role models. Me, I've been on Usenet for years. I predate the Deja.com archive's database. I even predate the AOL invasion, back in the days when you could set your calendar by the number of clueless newbies, before The Dawn of the Neverending September.

2000 July 12, greg@apple2.com.invalid, “BB-TV 7/11 aka The William Show - Dan T's comments”, in rec.arts.tv (Usenet), archived from the original on 08 Dec 2025

And besides, ever since the Usenet was opened to outside academia (1991 or so), and especially since the Neverending September, anonymous kooks have tried hurling libel at people, from accusations of prejudice, to accusations of pedophila, to no avail.

2001 July 22, Omri Schwarz, “***PROPOSED POLICY FOR SOC.CULTURE.LEBANON”, in soc.culture.lebanon (Usenet), archived from the original on 08 Dec 2025

: For reasons I don't understand, comp.lang.c++.moderated is having : a huge wave of homework requests right now. It's like September : all over again. Well, it's the Neverending September, that didn't go away like they used to. And now we're stuck with it.

2002 March 26, Shimo Suntila, “Science Fiction as a Genre”, in rec.arts.sf.composition (Usenet), archived from the original on 08 Dec 2025

For Internet familiarity among universities, either fall of '92 or '93, both of which have been refered to as the beginning of the neverending September.

1999 January 25, Tom Galloway, “Straw poll”, in rec.arts.sf.fandom (Usenet), archived from the original on 08 Dec 2025

Generally speaking, when people say 'troll' nowadays they mean flame baiting. Trolls in the traditional sense are pretty much extinct on the net, the neverending September pretty much killed off that endeavor.

1999 March 8, Jay Denebeim, “What are these "trolls" anyway?”, in news.groups (Usenet), archived from the original on 08 Dec 2025

An early popular newsreader (early in the sense of early modern - for Microsoft PCs) had a flaw where it regularly lost references headers (which - for those who don't know - are how threading always worked perfectly in the days before the neverending September).

2006 December 30, Nick Atty, “New Thread”, in uk.rec.waterways (Usenet), archived from the original on 08 Dec 2025