Giving full access to Usenet in September 1993, AOL basically removed any kind of limitation to what had been a controlled flow of new users (college students). Since then the number of total newbies has remained high at all times. There was (and is) no forgetting the adjustment phase. Odlyzko cites Andrew Odlyzko and explains that after 1993 the web of culture "could no longer count on any cyclic stabilization of cultural learning" due to a huge number of new users in comparison with the old ones (Odlyzko 14).
AOL’s internal culture—fast chatting, casual talk, off-topic friendliness—entered a space built on discipline and structure. Conflicts emerged immediately: -AOL users posted without reading FAQ documents -They cross-posted to unrelated groups -They treated Usenet like a giant chat room -They didn’t follow quoting conventions -They asked repetitive beginner questions -To veteran users, this felt like an invasion. The “signal-to-noise ratio” plummeted. Some groups doubled or tripled in daily posts, but most of the activity was low-quality or off-topic.
Eternal September caused: -collapse of traditional netiquette -reduced respect for expertise -increased trolling -fragmentation of discussions -overload of moderation attempts -exhaustion among experienced users Some long-established communities dissolved entirely because they could no longer maintain a shared culture.
Most academics and media people maintain the view that the 'Net' of the 20th century has just continued evolving and thus it was never really over. In his New York Times piece on the phenomenon, Daniel Kegel calls the internet "one long cultural onboarding process" . Each monumental change—smartphones, high-speed internet, Facebook's rise, YouTube comments, TikTok—being a fresh cycle of cultural disruption. The internet changed so rapidly that the establishment of norms took longer than the change. Today: - Platforms are always dealing with the influx of new users - There are universal struggles in moderation - Users are at odds over what constitutes acceptable behavior - Norms change quicker than communities can adjust The Eternal September that once was a single event has now become the main feature of online life.