# What year did you get online? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 26, 2015, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-year-did-you-get-online/741430 "2015-12-26T22:04:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-year-did-you-get-online/741430/81 "2015-12-31T16:21:28Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > 1. I didn’t really know much about it, and my first use other than sending emails was joining a forum. I assumed that everyone on the forum lived in the United States and were just fanboys like me. It turned out that I was getting replies from one of the world’s premier experts in the field. I guess that’s why he knew so much. :o I was on a message board early on, one that dealt with one of my hobbies. Another poster asked a question that no one else had answered and I knew that I had a book with the exact info they needed. I posted the info and he thanked me and asked where I had gotten the book. I told him the name of the bookstore chain. He replied that he didn’t think they had those in South Africa. :eek: I guess it never occured to me that our internet in the US was connected to the internets in _other countries_! ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-year-did-you-get-online/741430/82 "2015-12-31T16:33:11Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > 1995 or 1996 Heh, I remember before that though, in the early 1990s, the future **Mrs. Siam Sam** tried showing me at the U of Hawaii how to use e-mail. I thought it was stupid and predicted it would never take off. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-year-did-you-get-online/741430/83 "2015-12-31T17:01:11Z")
1999 or 2000. I was a teenager. My family is always at least several years behind in adopting new technology. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-year-did-you-get-online/741430/84 "2015-12-31T17:47:00Z")
> [@Octarine](#): > > I grew up with the internet! I probably first got on the computer around age 4 or 5. It’s actually a bit weird to think other people can remember a time when no one knew what a website was. (Feel old yet?) At my grandmother’s place, I used a hand-crank party line. She didn’t have phone, electricity, or indoor pluming until well after she married. ---
**Author:** ![Torontonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/45deac/32.png) [@Torontonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torontonian)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-year-did-you-get-online/741430/85 "2015-12-31T18:25:45Z")
2000 ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-year-did-you-get-online/741430/86 "2015-12-31T23:14:23Z")
1. My laptop came with a floppy to install AOL 3.0, which apparently was still new, as it had private messaging and PMs were a new feature to some folks I met on AOL who had been on longer than I had been. 14.4kbs modem and there were 28.8kbs modems too and even talk about 56kbs but the phone company wasn’t ready for anything close to 28.8. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-year-did-you-get-online/741430/87 "2016-01-02T01:51:01Z")
I got online in 2000 at age 13 when we bought our first computer, a desk top Mac. I did not use it that much, it was only a few years later when I was an older teen that I started spending few hours a day on the internet. Prior to this I did use the computer at school when required, but I don’t count that for this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2016, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-year-did-you-get-online/741430/88 "2016-01-03T02:27:55Z")
> [@Octarine](#): > > I grew up with the internet! I probably first got on the computer around age 4 or 5. It’s actually a bit weird to think other people can remember a time when no one knew what a website was. (Feel old yet?) I remember the first time I saw a url on an ad on the side of a bus. I thought “there goes the neighborhood.” I was right. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-year-did-you-get-online/741430/89 "2016-01-04T00:22:59Z")
1986 might have been my first experience with “electronic mail” at work. Personally, I got on a local BBS in 1987, I think. ---
**Author:** ![CCitizen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@CCitizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CCitizen)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-year-did-you-get-online/741430/90 "2016-01-04T02:12:46Z")
Year 4 BM. (Before Millennium) ---
**Author:** ![CCitizen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@CCitizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CCitizen)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-year-did-you-get-online/741430/91 "2016-01-04T02:15:30Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > 1986 might have been my first experience with “electronic mail” at work. Personally, I got on a local BBS in 1987, I think. WOW! What year did you become a Homo Interneticus? For me it was when I started arguing online in '98. ---
**Author:** ![CCitizen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@CCitizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CCitizen)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-year-did-you-get-online/741430/92 "2016-01-04T02:21:20Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > 1975 at school, then 1988 for CompuServe at home. I had a three digit user number (though most were four digit and I guess mine was recycled). The next year they started allowing emails to non-CompuServe addresses. Triple WOW! What was Internet like then? ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-year-did-you-get-online/741430/93 "2016-01-04T04:30:00Z")
Fall of 1995, when I was a freshman in college. We were aware of the internet’s existence in high school but the only way to access it was by long distance call (closest “local” ISP was in Manchester) so I didn’t know anyone lucky enough to have access before then. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-year-did-you-get-online/741430/94 "2016-01-04T04:40:56Z")
Depending on your definition, possibly as early as 1987 or 1988 on local BBSes with my father. Possibly Prodigy by 1991 or 1992. Definitely early in the initial growth of the Web, say 1996. There were fairly big gaps between the three. I remember when advertisers gave an AOL keyword and watching football games with the announcers slowly and painfully reading the entire address, starting with http://. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-year-did-you-get-online/741430/95 "2016-01-04T06:05:04Z")
Got our first computer in 1985 or 86. I had AOL on dial-up for several years, and I progressed gradually through all the tech advances since then, usually lagging behind some of my cutting-edge friends. I found the SDMB when it was on AOL, and I was among the early signups in the present format post-AOL. I’ve had the asknott email from the start, through all the succeeding carriers. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-year-did-you-get-online/741430/96 "2016-01-04T06:09:53Z")
1. I was 30 (but let’s say “about” for privacy’s sake), and had never been any sort of computer person. ---
**Author:** ![dukeinlondon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dfb087/32.png) [@dukeinlondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dukeinlondon)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-year-did-you-get-online/741430/97 "2016-01-04T07:17:05Z")
1998, dial up connection at work. It took a few more years till I was online at home ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-year-did-you-get-online/741430/98 "2016-01-04T08:47:27Z")
Well before 1995. I was working on a team developing government electronic commerce systems, at a time when despite our advice we couldn’t use the internet directly and had to direct all traffic via a value-added network. I had one of the rare internet accounts with an actual email address that I had to treat as though it was top secret. When Hotmail came into existence I was able to get for my own use [firstnamelastname@hotmail.com](mailto:firstnamelastname@hotmail.com) then [firstname.lastname@hotmail.com](mailto:firstname.lastname@hotmail.com) then [firstname\_lastname@hotmail.com](mailto:firstname_lastname@hotmail.com) as userids. Each expired because I didn’t know anyone to get emails from. I would forget to log on as there was nothing to read and the account would be gone. ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-year-did-you-get-online/741430/99 "2016-01-05T02:15:42Z")
I had email through my mainframe university account in 1987, as well as access to Usenet. I was also doing dian-in BBs’s around my hometown during that time. I didn’t get started doing the web until 1994 when I signed up for AOL. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-year-did-you-get-online/741430/100 "2016-01-05T14:41:42Z")
Late 1995 or early 1996, after moving from West Virginia to New Hampshire. I had been wanting to get online several years earlier, but that was the first time I lived in a place where the dial-up ISP was a local call. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-year-did-you-get-online/741430.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-year-did-you-get-online/741430.md?page=6)