Changes

==Spam and the Eternal September==

==Spam and the Eternal September==

Prior to the opening of the Internet to commercial activity in the 1990s, the Internet was academic and professional in nature. New students at colleges would be taught the proper way to act when being given access to Usenet. When AOL offered Usenet as a benefit, it was called "the Eternal September", as non-professional use by "[[the common man]]" began.

Prior to the opening of the Internet to commercial activity in the 1990s, the Internet was academic and professional in nature. New students at colleges would be taught the proper way to act when being given access to Usenet. When [[AOL]] began to offer Usenet as a benefit, it was called "the Eternal September", as non-professional use by "[[the common man]]" began.

[[Spam]], "cross-posting" messages to unrelated groups, [[trolling]], and [[flame wars]] became problems, as there is no built-in technical restriction on Usenet. This uncensored nature enabled posts containing [[mental illness]] and [[racism]] to exist as well. Eliminating unwanted posts requires the use of "killfiles", which are difficult for non-technical people. As a result, the use of Usenet for discussion purposes has greatly declined in favor of a growing amount of easier commercial alternatives (such as blogs and [[social networking]]).

[[Spam]], "cross-posting" messages to unrelated groups, [[trolling]], and [[flame wars]] became problems, as there is no built-in technical restriction on Usenet. This uncensored nature enabled posts containing [[mental illness]] and [[racism]] to exist as well. Eliminating unwanted posts requires the use of "killfiles", which are difficult for non-technical people. As a result, the use of Usenet for discussion purposes has greatly declined in favor of a growing amount of easier commercial alternatives (such as blogs and [[social networking]]).