[loginusername]

Ah. I always thought it was a reference to "ISP's" and the general public getting access to Usenet. Thanks for the clarification.

[lmm]

It was; AOL in particular, but other ISPs as well.

September was always a rough time on Usenet as all the noobs arrived; some old folks took the month off (or at least claimed to), coming back in October when they'd calmed down a bit. Once the public ISPs arrived it became like September the whole year round.