# Oldest Thing You Wrote That You Can Find on Google? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 30, 2010, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-thing-you-wrote-that-you-can-find-on-google/541287 "2010-05-30T14:37:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-thing-you-wrote-that-you-can-find-on-google/541287/21 "2010-05-31T18:09:27Z")
Well, lots of you are, frankly, playing unfairly. Having only been born in 1972 and first use of a computer in 1980 (relatively early adopter, considering the times, you have to admit), there’s no way in hell I can beat the current record of 1981, having only been 9 years old at the time. (The computer we had at the time was a TRS-80, which I’m pretty sure lacks any way to connect to the 'net). My first time on a local BBS was April 22, 1993 (strictly dial-up modem to a local telephone number, so those records are definitely not Google searchable) and my first time on the 'net was sometimes in the next year (Unix and Lynx-based system I remember). I know my first site on national anthems can be found via the Wayback Machine (if you know where to look) from around 1999-2000, but that wasn’t what the OP was asking for. But, regardless, even if I were to look for something of mine (which would take a while, last time I Googled my name, I appeared on page 3, by virtue of the fact that someone more famous with my name (one of President Clinton’s lawyers, who got a lot of media face time during Monicagate and Whitewatergate) gives me more chaff to sort through) I know that there’s no way I can beat several of these records, merely by virtue of not being online early enough (and I’m quite proud of how early I have been using computers and being a netizen “since just before the web stopped being an exclusive hangout” ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-thing-you-wrote-that-you-can-find-on-google/541287/22 "2010-05-31T20:27:21Z")
Googling my AOL screen name, which would be much more likely to show up than my real name, I come up with a posting to a Steve Winwood/Traffic newsgroup dated August 1, 1995. I joined AOL in October 1993, but I don’t know that anything from their proprietary discussion areas is archived anywhere. My first online postings would have all come from there. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-thing-you-wrote-that-you-can-find-on-google/541287/23 "2010-06-01T01:23:11Z")
> [@](#): > > I would tend to allow the 1975 claim, but I’m a little iffy about counting it if a link isn’t provided. I’m also a little iffy about claims that weren’t actually associated with someones actual name, since that makes it hard to verify. > > I’m also a little unclear about how college newspaper article from 75 would end up on the internet. Was it prepared on a computer or did someone OCR it? It’s archived online. _Every_ issue of **The Tech** is now archived online. Review of _King Kong_ on page 6 of the January 7, 1977 issur: [http://tech.mit.edu/V96/PDF/N54.pdf](http://tech.mit.edu/V96/PDF/N54.pdf) Review of Bakshi’s **Wizards** on page 6 [http://tech.mit.edu/V97/PDF/N9.pdf](http://tech.mit.edu/V97/PDF/N9.pdf) There are other pieces, but they’re all from 1977. I thought I had earlier ones in there (especially since Kong came out in 1976), but they seem to have held things up a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-thing-you-wrote-that-you-can-find-on-google/541287/24 "2010-06-01T03:48:13Z")
Damn, all the articles I wrote for school newspapers from 1994-1998 are gone now. ☹ I submitted an IMDB review in 1999, I guess that’s the oldest now. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-thing-you-wrote-that-you-can-find-on-google/541287/25 "2010-06-01T06:32:04Z")
I can find a Usenet post from 1987, though in the name of an avatar, not **septimus**. I had earlier posts from another host but can’t find them. (In fact, clicking “Sort by date” on the Google screen showing the 1987 post causes that post to disappear.) There’s so much on the 'Net, it’s easy to forget how much is missing. In the 1970’s I worked for a company with several hundred employees; the company was a career highlight for many employees, at least nostalgia-wise. Yet from the 'Net it seems impossible to find any trace whatever of that company beyond a mention on 2 or 3 on-line resumes. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-thing-you-wrote-that-you-can-find-on-google/541287/26 "2010-06-01T15:20:15Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > It’s archived online. _Every_ issue of **The Tech** is now archived online. > Review of _King Kong_ on page 6 of the January 7, 1977 issur: > > [http://tech.mit.edu/V96/PDF/N54.pdf](http://tech.mit.edu/V96/PDF/N54.pdf) > > Review of Bakshi’s **Wizards** on page 6 > > [http://tech.mit.edu/V97/PDF/N9.pdf](http://tech.mit.edu/V97/PDF/N9.pdf) > There are other pieces, but they’re all from 1977. I thought I had earlier ones in there (especially since Kong came out in 1976), but they seem to have held things up a bit. I checked and google search **"stephen r wilk " site:tech.mit.edu** does turn up the article he mentioned. 1977 is going to be hard to beat. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-thing-you-wrote-that-you-can-find-on-google/541287/27 "2010-06-01T15:22:25Z")
Y’all are already back before I was even born. The earliest thing I found on Google was in 2000, as, before that, I used a much more common username. Anyways, it was, embarrassingly enough, a post about Digimon. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-thing-you-wrote-that-you-can-find-on-google/541287/28 "2010-06-01T15:31:27Z")
Funnily enough, a week or two ago I did a search of Usenet for my postings from my first year at university, right after I discovered this internet thing that would waste so much of my adult life. The earliest one was from rec.music.rem in December 1994. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-thing-you-wrote-that-you-can-find-on-google/541287/29 "2010-06-01T15:46:44Z")
I clambered online around for good around 1994 or so, using an old XT to get to a BBS-style gateway at Canada Remote Systems, and then a little later switching to Interlog and connecting directly to the internet. I remember modems in the late 1980s though, so I must have been going to BBSs at that time, but it wasn’t a huge thing for me, and I don’t remember using email at the time. I’ve found a few Usenet postings from January 1995, and my earliest web pages from November 1995. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-thing-you-wrote-that-you-can-find-on-google/541287/30 "2010-06-01T16:11:15Z")
Just for clarification – my 1977 stuff (there’s more besides what I’ve listed) wasn’t originally written _on_ or _for_ the internet – neither the thread title nor the OP asked for that, so I’m legitimately within the definitions, which I wasn’t trying to work around. My earliest internet stuff is from the late 1990s, if that salves any complaints. Also, since I’m certain other Dopers had published things earlier than 1977, and _lots_ of things get archived, that 1977 “record” probably won’t stand. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-thing-you-wrote-that-you-can-find-on-google/541287/31 "2010-06-01T16:18:05Z")
Good Lord, I found something even earlier. It’s not my writing, it’s _me_. 1964/65 Official Cub Scout Equipment Uniforms catalog. That’s me in the lower right. No joke. [http://www.rubylane.com/shops/capricorn-gal/item/RL004376](http://www.rubylane.com/shops/capricorn-gal/item/RL004376) ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-thing-you-wrote-that-you-can-find-on-google/541287/32 "2010-06-01T20:28:50Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Good Lord, I found something even earlier. > It’s not my writing, it’s _me_. My word. Are you the drummer or the leaper? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-thing-you-wrote-that-you-can-find-on-google/541287/33 "2010-06-01T20:33:53Z")
> [@](#): > > Are you the drummer or the leaper? The drummer. The leaper looks cooler, though. I got what’s basically a target painted on my chest. _He_ got a black hand on a red background. There are more pictures of us inside the catalog, but there aren’t any online copies of those. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-thing-you-wrote-that-you-can-find-on-google/541287/34 "2010-06-01T20:56:20Z")
I didn’t write anything, but found a picture of myself in an archive. For nepotistic reasons (my great aunt was the proprietor) a photo of me as a one-day-old baby ended up on the front page of a country’s national newspaper in 1967. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-thing-you-wrote-that-you-can-find-on-google/541287/35 "2010-06-01T21:23:19Z")
I came to the internet sort of late in the game. I found a post to the usenet group rec.gambling.poker in July of 1997. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-thing-you-wrote-that-you-can-find-on-google/541287/36 "2010-06-01T22:08:37Z")
I checked and the first electronic mail was created in 1965, so there ought to be somebody that can beat 1977 by a lot. [http://www.multicians.org/thvv/mail-history.html](http://www.multicians.org/thvv/mail-history.html) ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-thing-you-wrote-that-you-can-find-on-google/541287/37 "2010-06-02T05:26:26Z")
Hmm, yeah maybe we should set some ground rules excluding reprints. ---
**Author:** ![NoiseBomb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/49beb7/32.png) [@NoiseBomb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoiseBomb)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-thing-you-wrote-that-you-can-find-on-google/541287/38 "2010-06-03T06:09:26Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > Things I wrote on older forums, like GEnie, is either not accessible to Google or gone to the great bit bucket in the sky. My guess is gone for good. I spent some time on the GEnie Apple II roundtables somewhere around '93 to '95. I want to say I remember someone wanting to archive all that stuff, but I have no idea if it ever happened. Google does have a few Usenet postings of mine going as back as far as 1995. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-thing-you-wrote-that-you-can-find-on-google/541287/39 "2010-06-03T09:12:04Z")
I created [this](http://evensven.tripod.com/cheap.html) as a high school student around 1996. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-thing-you-wrote-that-you-can-find-on-google/541287/40 "2010-06-03T10:54:11Z")
I found a CD review by me on Amazon from April, 1999. Before that, I did not exist on the internet. There might/should be some older stuff from a Dutch MOO circa 1994/1995, but I can’t seem to find it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-thing-you-wrote-that-you-can-find-on-google/541287.md?page=1)