# Misconceptions you had about the internet. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 29, 2002, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-you-had-about-the-internet/121340 "2002-07-29T06:49:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kirk280980](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c77e96/32.png) [@kirk280980](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kirk280980)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-you-had-about-the-internet/121340/21 "2002-12-03T16:32:43Z")
When I first got a computer, I thought that the URL of every website you visited would appear on the itemised phone bill. At the time I was using my parents’ phone line, so I was _very_ careful indeed about what kind of things I looked at on the 'net. Oh, and I’m another one who thought that you had to be logged on when you were expecting e-mail. I was quite pleasantly surprised to find that wasn’t the case, and that I wouldn’t have to sit there waiting for it to appear in my inbox after all. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-you-had-about-the-internet/121340/22 "2002-12-03T16:50:29Z")
I thought it would be good. The sad thing is - that has probably already been said in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-you-had-about-the-internet/121340/23 "2002-12-03T17:20:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by 1kBR Kid \* > **I once asked a guy who was a computer guru if I could download a website onto a disk then go back to it from any computer.** Maybe I’m being whooshed… but… you can. ---
**Author:** ![VenusProbe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e495f1/32.png) [@VenusProbe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VenusProbe)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-you-had-about-the-internet/121340/24 "2002-12-03T18:15:52Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by 1kBR Kid_ > I once asked a guy who was a computer guru if I could download a website onto a disk then go back to it from any computer. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by OpalCat \* > \*\*Maybe I’m being whooshed… but… you can. \*\* rather than just typing the url again on the other computer :smack: ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-you-had-about-the-internet/121340/25 "2002-12-03T18:24:28Z")
Mother is thinking about getting a computer (she will agonize over the decision - if it were up to her to make the final decision as to whether to launch the Normandy invasion we’d all be speaking German and eating blood sausages), and I’m already dreading the late night calls… “OK… I’ve got the computer hooked up. Where’s Ebay?” ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-you-had-about-the-internet/121340/26 "2002-12-03T19:20:07Z")
**Sublight** : > [@](#): > > I got started on Usenet in '92, and it took me a while to fully grasp that Usenet and the Intenet weren’t the same thing. You mean you did not realize that there was more to the internet than _just_ usenet? (You do of course realize that usenet is indeed on the internet?) ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-you-had-about-the-internet/121340/27 "2002-12-03T20:35:49Z")
Search engines are really stupid, you need to do most of the thinking for it. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-you-had-about-the-internet/121340/28 "2002-12-04T03:02:35Z")
**AHunter3** : Yep, I thought for a while that Usenet was the full extent of the Internet. Then I started discovering ftp sites and later this weird ‘world wide web’ thing. ---
**Author:** ![Forbin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5e9695/32.png) [@Forbin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Forbin)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-you-had-about-the-internet/121340/29 "2002-12-04T04:49:28Z")
A screenname that I like to use is Umberto. I just like that name, and I’ve sort of become attached to it. When I signed up here, I remembered having my computer reject two filenames in the same folder, soooooo… I chose a diferent screenname. After all, one couldn’t possibly use the same screenname twice, right? Dumb! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![plain\_jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@plain\_jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plain_jane)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-you-had-about-the-internet/121340/30 "2002-12-05T02:54:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by hillbilly queen \* > \*\*I thought “hotmail” was the email version of cyber sex. > \*\* I thought that too! I also believed that I had to provide my true information when signing up for anything, and they’d catch me if I didn’t. ('Cause, well, they verified information on local BBSs, why not the 'net?! Right.) I didn’t know a lot when I first started, but I used to go on the local BBSs so I had a _bit_ of a head start. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misconceptions-you-had-about-the-internet/121340.md?page=1)