Paying money for something that true hackers have always considered a higher calling might have been derided as crass commercialism by earlier Internet enthusiasts.

His venture has created a stir among Internet enthusiasts even before it begins, largely because of his track record.

Internet enthusiasts do not find Mr. Stoll's brand of sarcasm the least bit funny.

A longtime Internet enthusiast, Mr. Negroponte advises many of the nation's leading media and telecommunications companies.

Internet enthusiasts are infiltrating the middle ranks of purchasing departments, too.

But for Internet enthusiasts, the all-you-can-eat price plans are prompting residential phone customers to add second and third phone lines.

Every new technology brought with it confident pronouncements that it would, as the Internet enthusiasts declared, "change everything."

In America's $8.5 trillion economy, that two-step process will not happen overnight, even if the Internet enthusiasts are correct in saying it is inevitable.

By then he had honed his speaking skills, friends say, and had a following of loyal Internet enthusiasts.

Internet enthusiasts have a fallback hope: "You cannot regulate the Internet."