How long have you been on the Net?

Just wondering...

[Sinner_G]

I was asking myself how old (errr, I mean how young ;)) people are on WW and found the age thread [webmasterworld.com]. Although it's nearly 1 year old, it gives an idea. There are very young people and errrrr, some wise people.

Now the next question is, how long have you WWers been on the Internet?

I started with usenet and telnet back in 1992, so this year is my 10th net-anniversary. :)

<edited>
Mac, I said ON the net, not IN the net (or the matrix) ;).

[edited by: Sinner_G at 1:12 pm (utc) on Aug. 3, 2002]

[Macguru]

Since I picked the red pill. ;)

[Mardi_Gras]

Since I started dialing in to the Dow Jones News service with a Tandy Model D (Hey, it was the DUAL floppy model!) and a 300 baud modem. That was 1986.
<added>
That's how long I've been on line - on the net I guess since the mid 90s. First web browser used - Mosaic!</added>

[edited by: Mardi_Gras at 1:29 pm (utc) on Aug. 3, 2002]

[Grumpus]

1986 - through a college shell account.

G.

[Sinner_G]

>1986

I feel like a newbie. ;)
I was still using (ok just for games ;)) my C64 at that time.

[Woz]

1985 - Telnet/Email
1995 - WWW

Onya
Woz

[bird]

Don't remember whether it was 1989 or 1990. Shortly after the european side of it got connected, in any case.

[Mike_Mackin]

Al Gore let me see his BETA

[richlowe]

1978 working with computers
1982 DECnet networking and ARPAnet

Richard Lowe

[Birdman]

2001 :o
Was never interested until then. It sure didn't take long to get hooked, though.

[dcheney]

Since mid-1980's (while at University)

[pleeker]

Started using CompuServe at work in early 90s, maybe '91? Started using AOL at home in '94, which at the time had little more to offer than Gopher and Usenet, which I used. Got a real 'Net account in '95.

[circuitjump]

> Late 1997

I wanted a computer to play games on. Instead I got stuck on the web and making web sites for fun. Everything starts out "FOR FUN", till someone ends up losing an eye or something more!

[skibum]

Someone showed me Mosaic in 94. It took about 6 months to realize what is was and the potential of the whole thing. GoodStuffCheap was the only shopping site I knew of.

A web dev company was started in Dec 96' and a job interview clued me into SEO in 98'

First Ebay transaction in 98'

[sean]

Sometime in the late 1980's, but I'm too old to remember the exact year without straining my brain. I do remember it being very... green. :)

[Hunter]

For me it was 1996, a month or two after I had bought my first computer. I was not even interested in having a computer until I beagn to read about the Internet in the summer/fall of 1995. That's the funny part of it for me, I probably would not even have a computer (let alone the 5 that I currently use) if it weren't for the web.

[rjohara]

Since the mid-80s beginning with a 300 baud modem to the late, great Mass. Mac & Electric BBS in Boston -- the WebmasterWorld of its day -- run by a fellow named Barr Plexico -- the Brett Tabke of his day. :) It wasn't the Internet, but it did connect to Fidonet and so to the world.

[Marcia]

>how long have you WWers been on the Internet?

Probably around 72 hours, if you don't count rebooting and getting up occasionally to put up more coffee.

[Sinner_G]

Probably around 72 hours, if you don't count rebooting and getting up occasionally to put up more coffee.

Well, put some sleep in between and there you have the last 10 years for me ;).

We do seem to have very experienced people around here. Seems the average is way above 10 years internet experience. Don't think there are that many communities where you can find that.

[deejay]

First logon from home: 16th August 1995, 8 pm. I kid you not. It was a seminal moment.

I had seen the net for the first time while on a month's work posting to the big smoke. I was hooked. Had to have it. Came home, threw out my old DOS donkey, paid $5,000 for a brand new top-of-the-line Pentium 75 with 16 mb RAM and a 1 gb hard drive, and was online within a week.

I was one of the first 6 private home internet connections in my region of about 100,000 people. There was only one company you could connect through at that time (in this region at least)... the big telecom companies hadn't joined the fray at that point... and access was charged on a combination hourly AND mb usage... cost me around $300 per month minimum.

For all that, I didn't even build my first website until 2000 and that was for a client. 2002 and I've built my first 'for me' website. E-commerce here though is kind of where home internet access was around later 1996. There's a few options out there, but they're still overpriced.

Just bought a new .nz domain last week - $85 for the domain. $7 per month just for the ISP to hold the domain. $25 per month for a basic html-only hosting package (counter and form cgi scripts included, but no other scripts, SSI, no databases, no custom 404, no nothing). Don't get me started on the options (LACK OF!) for payment processing solutions, or the cost!

...... err.. what was the question?

[Dpeper]

1996 when i was 11 years old

[sean]

Ehh... rjohara's post reminded me that a couple of the early years were primarily spent using non-Internet online services. Still, a bit wild to think that I've been 'connecting' for half of my existence.*

* half of years. not half of hours. i think.

[g1smd]

> how long have you WWers been on the Internet?

Been playing with computers since 1980: Research Machines 380Z, then BBC Micro B etc.

Into PCs sometime about 1984. On the net since 1996, first web site in 1997.

Standards 'evangelist' all the time [ISO 8601 and Validation to name but a few].

[Eric_Jarvis]

summer '93 IIRC

built my first web site for me in '94 first for someone else in mid '95 and was earning a living at it less than a year later

[backus]

Started by using System 9000 on the BBC Micro B back in 1987. Had a modem where you had to connect the telephone hook.

[Sinner_G]

Ok, here's the first statistic:

1982: 1
1983: 0
1984: 0
1985: 3
1986: 1
1987: 1
1988: 1
1989: 1
1990: 1
1991: 1
1992: 1
1993: 1
1994: 1
1995: 1
1996: 3
1997: 1
1998: 0
1999: 0
2000: 0
2001: 1
2002: 0

Pretty well balanced, with richlowe being the senior net citizen and the average YOTN (Years On The Net) exactly 10 years.

[richlowe]

with richlowe being the senior net citizen

Egads! Now I feel old...

Richard Lowe

[Sinner_G]

Of course I meant mose wise net citizen ;).

[WebRookie]

Online since 1997, first classes and website 1998.

[brotherhood of LAN]

On and off since 94/95

As you can imagine, paying £4.40 an hour via costs for a 14 year olds account didn't mix too well with the bill payer.

Had steady access for 3 years :)