Arpanet standardized TCP/IP on this day in 1983

The story is supposed to be a feel‑good birthday post for the modern internet: back in 1983, the old, clunky network language called NCP was dumped in favor of a new, open system called TCP/IP, the technical alphabet soup that secretly powers everything from your memes to your email. It was a big deal because, before that, every company spoke its own private network “language,” like a tech Tower of Babel, and nothing played nicely together. TCP/IP was the neutral party that let everyone finally talk—and basically became the DNA of the online world.

But the community isn’t lighting candles; they’re lighting torches. The top comment is basically a literary roast, asking what “genre” this article belongs to where it drops big names like congestion management and legendary internet pioneers Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn… then refuses to actually explain anything. One user sneers that it’s all name-dropping with no substance, demanding, at the very least, more than two words about how the internet doesn’t collapse when everyone streams cat videos at once. The vibe in the thread is: cool history, but don’t tease the nerds with technical buzzwords and then fade to black. Readers wanted a deep dive; instead, they got what one might call the “sparknotes of the internet,” and the comments are absolutely calling it out.