# What became ubiquitous then went away in your lifetime? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 10, 2026, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180 "2026-04-10T22:01:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 46
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2026, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/901 "2026-09-30T20:27:46Z")
When I was a kid, we tried those old eraseable ballpoint pens but I did not like them (for the smeary reasons already mentioned), but a cheap fountain pen + ink eradicator worked great (has that gone away? Anybody know what writing utensils schoolkids actually use, if any?) The ink eraser had one end that would render blue ink invisible, and a blue felt tip at the other end to write in the corrections. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/902 "2026-10-01T00:21:11Z")
Correction fluid, whiteout, liquid paper, et al, is definitely something that emerged and then rapidly declined during my lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/903 "2026-10-01T13:40:12Z")
> [@robby](#): > > (2) If it’s a graded exercise (like a test or quiz), you don’t want students changing their answers after it’s been returned to them and claiming you (the teacher) made an error while grading it. That was the big one. I recall that being an issue for adults using them as well, because you couldn’t use them for documents where you want your signature to be permanent, like writing a check or signing things. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/904 "2026-10-01T13:56:06Z")
Who checks the ink on every one of hundreds of students’ exam papers, though? What you do is collect all the scratch paper (and not return it), which can be examined in case of any discrepancies. > [@bump](#): > > That was the big one. I recall that being an issue for adults using them as well, because you couldn’t use them for documents where you want your signature to be permanent, like writing a check or signing things. If it is a legal document, your state may have explicit requirements, which certainly specify that the ink be permanent and possibly the allowed colors as well. (Though, again, who is testing it? Perhaps the notary supplies his or her own ink?) ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/905 "2026-10-01T14:10:40Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Who checks the ink on every one of hundreds of students’ exam papers, though? Former teacher here. You don’t have to check everyone’s exam papers, just the ones who complain afterwards that their exam paper was supposedly misgraded. A student’s use of an eraseable pen is a red flag. And they also tended to smear back then, so I had a blanket prohibition against students using them for anything that they turned in to be graded, including exams. (I’m right-handed, but for some reason I write like a lefty, with my hand curled around my pen. Which then smears anything that is smearable, so I’ve never been able to use them at all.) ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/906 "2026-10-01T16:49:09Z")
> [@robby](#): > > don’t want students changing their answers after it’s been returned to them I still think it was mostly just regular grade school teacher compulsory meanness toward children and jealousy that we had awesome erasing ink technology they didn’t, back before indoor plumbing /s Maybe some was the sticky ink, I don’t remember that reason being given, but it probably wasn’t answer changing because some kids were still using pencils. We’d individually graduate to cursive from printing and, later, from pencil to ballpoint pen (permanent!) but some didn’t get there for a while. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/907 "2026-10-01T16:58:48Z")
Many years ago I used to write my checks with a pen using a special ink that supposedly wouldn’t reproduce on a photocopier. I had some misguided idea that this was good for my privacy because the bank wouldn’t have records of who I was writing checks to. Anyway, I just did a quick search and can’t find that this type of pen exists anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/908 "2026-10-01T17:14:39Z")
Is non-photo blue still a thing? That might qualify for the thread. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/909 "2026-10-01T17:59:47Z")
The pastime of **wardriving** , (unauthorized use of wifi accesspoints) with antennas and hackable routers died off around the adoption of 4G mobile. > [@markn\_1](#): > > write my checks with a pen using a special ink I’ve become interested in fountain pens and calligraphy inks in the last few years and the lack of colorfast-ishness in those older inks has really been eye opening. Check washing and other document tampering must have really been a problem since my minor accidents like beverage droplets or damp hands sometimes almost obliterates the writing. Edit: They’re pretty much watercolors. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/910 "2026-10-01T18:38:57Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > The pastime of **wardriving** , (unauthorized use of wifi accesspoints) with antennas and hackable routers died off around the adoption of 4G mobile The use of open or shared wifi networks is much less necessary since 4G, 5G, and high usage data plans appeared. I don’t bother to connect to public wifi unless mobile data is poor. The related definition of wardriving, which linked a wifi scanner and gps to record maps of wifi locations has gone from a niche hobby to ubiquitous. In the early 2000s with the introduction of 802.11b the use of wifi was taking off, so it was fun to see who had networks, who left them open on purpose, and who did by mistake. Now the wifi networks are everywhere, and every phone, street view car, and smart TV report back to home base the location of all the wifi networks they see. It’s also still a hobby for some people. > **[WiGLE: Wireless Network Mapping](https://wigle.net/)** > > Maps and database of 802.11 wireless networks, with statistics, submitted by wardrivers, netstumblers, and net huggers. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/911 "2026-10-01T19:09:19Z")
There are, and have been since before anybody here was born, _erasable_ liquid inks (that one can use in, e.g., a fountain pen, I do not mean those rubber-cement based things) which a lot of schoolkids were using, various colorful inks that may or may be eraseable but whose resistance to water could be anything from pretty good to nil, and deliberately _permanent_ inks that you would use on a check or legal document. ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/912 "2026-10-02T02:02:12Z")
I’m not sure if we’re talking about the same thing, but I recall when “photo-copy” machines came out, blue ink didn’t register ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/913 "2026-10-02T02:12:47Z")
Yes, same thing. I’m pretty sure blue registers now! [Non-photo blue - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-photo_blue) says yes, it copies now, but it’s still sort of used. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/914 "2026-10-02T17:56:40Z")
Remember email forwards? Those emails people forwarded to all their friends, which contained something like a lame joke, or a warning that you would have bad luck if you didn’t forward it to 10 people, or a bogus claim that Bill Gates would pay you $100 if you did? Those really became ubiquitous in the 1990s when most people were getting access to email for the first time. Then they died out when social media became a thing. Of course chain letters were always a thing, but they really exploded in popularity when they moved to email, since clicking “forward” is a lot less work than copying a paper letter and mailing it out. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/915 "2026-10-02T18:24:44Z")
I don’t know if I’d really call that “dying out” - the joke or warning or urban legend or glurge or scam or whatever is still being passed along, just by different means. ---
**Author:** ![icon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c6cbf5/32.png) [@icon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/icon)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/916 "2026-10-02T18:28:16Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > Remember email forwards? Ah yes, I received plenty of those in my email box. A friend of mine and I ran a humorous e-mail newsletter and one of our subscribers forwarded the notice about email forwards sent to him by his university it department explaining why you shouldn’t do it. He added that this was valuable information that should be shared with everyone. We of course agreed and added our own message to the forwarded message saying how thankful we were to have received this information and that it was valuable enough to be shared to as many people as you could. 😜 I don’t think our message got forwarded again as well, but I still giggle a little about it. `//i\\` ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2026, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/917 "2026-10-03T00:55:53Z")
Microsoft Clip Art was inescapable in the 90s and 2000s, not least those “screen bean” characters. Then it all disappeared about 12 years ago: [https://www.npr.org/transcripts/368060012](https://www.npr.org/transcripts/368060012) ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2026, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/918 "2026-10-04T20:27:04Z")
Yeah, they just shifted hosts to social media platforms and never really died out. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/919 "2026-10-05T12:58:47Z")
Re: Hare Krishna. I thought I’d asked where they went, as I would see them at LAX. I can’t find that post now, but I did see a [Facebook post](https://www.facebook.com/groups/294755109282927/permalink/1376833731075054/) that says this: Lawsuits prevailed barring them: > Google AI summaries- > > • Supreme Court (1992): In International Society for Krishna Consciousness v. Lee, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that government-operated airport terminals are nonpublic forums rather than open public spaces. The Court held that bans on the direct solicitation of money are constitutional because they are reasonable, content-neutral measures to prevent congestion and disruption. However, the Court simultaneously found that bans on quietly distributing free literature in those areas were unconstitutional. > > • California Supreme Court & Ninth Circuit (2010): Legal battles continued locally, notably at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The California Supreme Court unanimously upheld a Los Angeles city ordinance banning the immediate collection of donations in terminals, concluding it was a valid security and pedestrian-flow measure. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2026, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/920 "2026-10-05T13:16:29Z")
And thus an iconic scene from _Airplane!_ becomes encapsulated as a snapshot of its time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180.md?page=45) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180.md?page=47)