“Eternal September” is, as wikipedia describes it, the era of mass consumption internet. In its most rarefied state, the Internet had only thoughtful participants who respected one another. A general code of conduct and decorum prevailed. Since 1993, when AOL and other ISPs have brought exponentially more, and less civil, users to the internet, that prior balance has been lost.
I’m sure this is mostly a matter of concern among technophiles, but I have been noticing the irritating effects of what may be deemed the Web 2.0 edition of Eternal September. Since the advent of blogs and commenting, people who could never write a web page have been able to make their voices heard. As a result, and perhaps this has accelerated with increased familiarity with public comments and a continued decline of decorum, every newspaper and widely read blog post have a full gamut of obnoxious comments.
