September, and with it the start of classes at most educational institutions in the United States, is almost upon us. In honor of this, I’d like to look back this week on the September that started twenty-eight years ago in 1993 and is still continuing: Usenet’s Eternal September. Twenty-eight years in, I still don’t think we understand exactly what the implications of this change were, nor have we decided what direction Internet communities should turn in response. I don’t have all the answers either, but I’d like to suggest two useful ways of thinking about it.
Eternal September
Eternal September or the September that never ended was a cultural phenomenon during a period beginning around late 1993 and early 1994, when Internet service providers began offering Usenet access to many new users.[1][2] Before this, the only sudden changes in the volume of new users of Usenet occurred each September, when cohorts of university students would gain access to it for the first time, in sync with the academic calendar.
It's September, Forever
The 'Eternal September' was a 1993 backlash against unwanted internet users. It never ended.
Eternal September | Know Your Meme
Eternal September is a slang term that refers to the time period of the Internet since September 1993, when Usenet saw its heaviest influx of newbies into
We can have a different web
Many yearn for the “good old days” of the web. We could have those good old days back — or something even better — and if anything, it would be easier now than it ever was.
My journey to the heart of the forgotten internet
Slowly but surely, huge swaths of the internet are vanishing. But the artefacts of the early web are still out there, and they have lessons for the future.
The Attention Forum: October 23/24th 2025
The internet was initially sold to us as a force for connection – a borderless, democratizing set of technologies that would amplify voices, allow us to spread ideas, and strengthen civil society.
Be A Property Owner And Not A Renter On The Internet
The year is 2025. The internet in the shape that we've known it in the early 2000s is no longer there. Or, not quite in the shape that we've seen it before. This is not just plain nostalgia talking - the vibrant ecosystem of blogs, feeds, personal sites, and forums has been usurped by a few mega-concentrated players.
Peer2Peer: A Critical Internet Studies Gathering in LA - FCCW: Feminist Center for Creative Work
UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry and FCCW Present Peer2Peer: A Critical Internet Studies Gathering in LA Friday, May 2 & Saturday, May 3 FCCW: 3035 Rosslyn St. LA, CA 90065 Info on our space Free Peer2Peer is a two-day gathering bringing together researchers, artists, archivists, and makers to think collectively and critically about the Internet. Come hear incredible new work from our research community, learn how to up your digital security, learn how to archive (or not!) the web, come laugh at jokes about the Internet! All events unless otherwise noted are open to the public. Come for an hour or stay for the whole two-days!
Was their any substantial backlash to the internet when it first started becoming popular? I can imagine that going from a comparatively disconnected world to one where instantaneous global connection 24/7 were commonplace was a rather massive (and not always positive) shift in many ways.
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Historical pragmatism and the internet
This article argues that the literature describing the internet revolution in the 1990s was characterized by the rhetoric of the technological sublime. This rhetoric suffered from three fatal flaws: (1) it was not sufficiently grounded in the historical development of technology; (2) it viewed the internet in isolation, failing to consider the wider technological context; and (3) it failed to examine the internet in view of the social, economic, religious and political circumstances of its users. Several examples from history are cited, demonstrating that changes in various systems for the production, dissemination and preservation of cultural information both border and deborder the world. The article suggests that if internet researchers take a pragmatic, historically grounded approach, they will discover that the introduction of internet technology can be seen to have similar consequences. While the technology overcomes many boundaries (of space and time, politics and economics), other social borders may be created at the same time. It is easier to see old boundaries coming down than to see new ones being erected. Rather than being swept by utopian or dystopian enthusiasms, the article insists that the really interesting discoveries are to be made in locating the subtle social shifts taking place, relatively unnoticed, as a consequence of technological change.
PfP✨ London dates and early speakers
Join us in London on Feb 4-5, 2026 to discuss how we can preserve an open, equitable web, where no one company holds the keys.
The Internet Transition
The Internet is allowing us to build a richer, more complex society but the way in which we Internet today is failing to support the governance systems that a more complex world requires. I take a look at why these issues are related, try to develop an intuition for a way forward, and point at the emerging field that is coming together to build that future.
rip.so :: the digital graveyard
A memorial to the messengers, social networks, browsers and websites the internet forgot.
Long Live the Web: A Call for Continued Open Standards and Neutrality
The Web is critical not merely to the digital revolution but to our continued prosperity—and even our liberty. Like democracy itself, it needs defending
How we got here
Wherein our hero, in this publication's inaugural, dates himself (as if others would) in a reminiscence of computers and websites past.