# Some members are from 1999?!? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 27, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-members-are-from-1999/607560 "2011-12-27T20:46:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-members-are-from-1999/607560/41 "2011-12-28T12:26:47Z")
Young whippersnappers, no respect for the pioneers of the internet. Why, back in my day it took an hour to download one nudie picture, and then Jpegs came in and it only took forty minutes, but they were a proprietary format and we had to find a tranlator to view them. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-members-are-from-1999/607560/42 "2011-12-28T12:28:58Z")
And they don’t know we had to load a computer from a tape- not a disc drive. I might go and saturate my pillow. ---
**Author:** ![Lucretia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@Lucretia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucretia)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-members-are-from-1999/607560/43 "2011-12-28T13:01:28Z")
> [@SDMBKL](#): > > Therefore, the minimum age at which the oldest member here must be greater than 24 years! If this is the case, then these members are old! :eek: 45, and I seem to still be alive. I also remember to wear my underwear in the inside, most of the time. Easy with the old, there, sonny jim. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-members-are-from-1999/607560/44 "2011-12-28T13:08:37Z")
Come over and play on my lawn! I have a trampoline. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-members-are-from-1999/607560/45 "2011-12-28T13:14:50Z")
For the OP- by my count we have 4 members who are mid 80’s I guess they would remember the attack on pearl harbour, if not the last Ice Age. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-members-are-from-1999/607560/46 "2011-12-28T16:20:23Z")
Back in 1994 I had AOL for DOS, Compuserve for DOS, and Prodigy was the only one with a web-looking interface (and it was slow as heck for that reason). 2400 baud rate. I also was on some BBSs (all DOS) but they were usually just some guy with a computer who was sitting there waiting for someone to login so he could chat. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-members-are-from-1999/607560/47 "2011-12-28T16:34:19Z")
Yikes, by 1994 I had a broadband connection. (ETA: I hope that doesn’t come across as snarky!) A few years before that I managed a Software, Etc. and sold Prodigy and Compuserve starter kits. Prodigy had a promotion for obtaining sign-ups–it’s how I got my first VCR (just a couple years out of the parent’s house) and a set of luggage that I still have today. Ah, to go back to the C=64 days when logging onto a BBS was a technological marvel! ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-members-are-from-1999/607560/48 "2011-12-28T16:35:53Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Ah, to go back to the C=64 days when logging onto a BBS was a technological marvel! Or even the VIC-20! ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-members-are-from-1999/607560/49 "2011-12-28T16:47:38Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Or even the VIC-20! Aiiiieeeee I’m devolving back to my TRS-80! But it has _ **16K!** _ Extended Basic! ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-members-are-from-1999/607560/50 "2011-12-28T16:53:55Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Aiiiieeeee I’m devolving back to my TRS-80! But it has _ **16K!** _ Extended Basic! Bodacious machine! By the time that was out we were already Commodore snobs. We had a “users group” at work with all sorts of “personal computers” being represented. Did you or anybody you know have one of those Timex Sinclair powerhouses? What was the most exotic and one-of-a-kind toys that you knew of? What year did you finally get an IBM, or IBM-knockoff? ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-members-are-from-1999/607560/51 "2011-12-28T17:41:47Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > The earliest SDMB join dates are from February 1999, so in theory, the youngest members from that date would be 25 now. (I’m not sure if that rule was in place at the time.) We’ve had younger people join since then. There a Straight Dope AOL group for several years before the message board came into existence, and like the masthead says, the column has been around since 1973. There was also alt.fan.cecil-adams on Usenet at least as far back as 1994. I recall **Flodnak** posting there in about that timeframe. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-members-are-from-1999/607560/52 "2011-12-28T18:05:19Z")
We need another '99ers check in thread. ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-members-are-from-1999/607560/53 "2011-12-28T18:08:55Z")
I still have my first computer, a Compaq Portable. Its got a 9" ‘green screen’ and 128k of memory. And it _ **still** _ works! :eek: I don’t use it anymore, but I did ‘fire it up’ a while back, just for grins. 😃 When I first started out on AOL (early 90’s), IIRC it cost $24.95/month! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-members-are-from-1999/607560/54 "2011-12-28T18:20:39Z")
> [@Rico](#): > > We need another '99ers check in thread. Check out Post #39 and the link there. **ntucker** downloaded a file with all the users’ data available in their profiles. As of mid-November. Unless there’s need for actual sign-in, the data is on that file. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-members-are-from-1999/607560/55 "2011-12-28T19:00:02Z")
I miss playing FoodFight on a bbs… ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-members-are-from-1999/607560/57 "2011-12-28T19:14:08Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Check out Post #39 and the link there. **ntucker** downloaded a file with all the users’ data available in their profiles. As of mid-November. Unless there’s need for actual sign-in, the data is on that file. I was unable to download the complete file that **ntucker** collected, so I asked him to strip off all the people who had never posted. From that file I sorted to find that there are 374 people who joined sometime in 1999 and who have posted at least once in 2011. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-members-are-from-1999/607560/58 "2011-12-28T19:30:50Z")
> [@JBDivmstr](#): > > When I first started out on AOL (early 90’s), IIRC it cost $24.95/month! ☹ And before they went to a flat fee, I ran up a bill one month in the middle-90’s of almost $100. At 2400 baud, no less, so there wasn’t a lot of graphic material. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-members-are-from-1999/607560/59 "2011-12-28T19:37:11Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > And before they went to a flat fee, I ran up a bill one month in the middle-90’s of almost $100. At 2400 baud, no less, so there wasn’t a lot of graphic material. Except for your language when you saw the bill, right? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-members-are-from-1999/607560/60 "2011-12-28T19:41:35Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Except for your language when you saw the bill, right? 😃 You’re G!\*&d%#m right! What’s this ferslinger Internet good for, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-members-are-from-1999/607560/61 "2011-12-28T20:24:24Z")
> [@Rico](#): > > We need another '99ers check in thread. > > * * * > > Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not to their own facts. > > Proud Member of the SDMB “99’ers”! I usually think of “99’ers” as claimed by you folks from March, and I have an etiquette question: As someone who joined in September, am I entitled to call myself a 99’er? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-members-are-from-1999/607560.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-members-are-from-1999/607560.md?page=4)