# Who has the oldest e-mail address among the Dope? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 11, 2012, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-oldest-e-mail-address-among-the-dope/618465 "2012-04-11T15:06:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-oldest-e-mail-address-among-the-dope/618465/21 "2012-04-11T17:36:03Z")
My first email account was with a 1993 internet start up called [The Pipeline](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pipeline) [James Gleick](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Gleick) sent me my first ever email. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-oldest-e-mail-address-among-the-dope/618465/22 "2012-04-11T17:41:39Z")
My oldest active is only about a decade old. Previous to that, I used hotmail, but dropped them so long ago I have no idea how to even get back into them. Which only sucks those times older games I used to play get me interested again and I can’t get on my original account because they’re tied to defunct email addresses. \>.\< ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-oldest-e-mail-address-among-the-dope/618465/23 "2012-04-11T18:06:18Z")
I’ve had probably four email addresses since I started using the net. I think the one I currently use is only about five years old. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-oldest-e-mail-address-among-the-dope/618465/24 "2012-04-11T18:38:13Z")
Oldest dates from around 1995, just before I left GEnie. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-oldest-e-mail-address-among-the-dope/618465/25 "2012-04-11T18:40:51Z")
My husband got me an email address for Valentine’s Day the year we were engaged, which was 1995. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-oldest-e-mail-address-among-the-dope/618465/26 "2012-04-11T18:42:50Z")
The main one is from the late '90’s, although until very recently the first account I ever got in '92 or '93 was still being actively forwarded there and my dad still used it. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-oldest-e-mail-address-among-the-dope/618465/27 "2012-04-11T20:15:48Z")
My oldest is from about 1996 and is with AOL. I don’t use it, but it’s still active. In total, I’ve had about 15 email addresses assigned to me, including work and ISP email addresses. After about our 4th internet provider, we decided that using their email addresses was a losing proposition, and we registered our own domain name, just so we could be sure of having long term addresses. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-oldest-e-mail-address-among-the-dope/618465/28 "2012-04-11T21:03:41Z")
My first personal E-mail account was with Compuserve, about '93 or '94. I no longer have it. I registered with Hotmail in late '96; that address has been in use continuously since and still is my primary personal account. I also have a Yahoo addy from around '98 or so, but haven’t used it in many years. There was at least one ISP-specific address in there somewhere as well. So let’s say four personal accounts total. Business accounts: I’ve actually, in all that time, worked for only one company for which I’ve had an assigned E-mail address. That one has been migrated through at least three (or maybe four) domains, but can be traced back to the one that was originally issued to me around '95 or so. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-oldest-e-mail-address-among-the-dope/618465/29 "2012-04-11T21:04:54Z")
I can’t find anything in my Yahoo account older than February of 1999, although I’m certain I had it before then. I don’t remember when I started with Hotmail – maybe 1997? I apparently signed up with Gmail on 6/19/04. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-oldest-e-mail-address-among-the-dope/618465/30 "2012-04-11T21:14:11Z")
I work at a major university and we’ve had email since it was invented. I’ve been here for 30 years now. I don’t remember when it was assigned but I’ve had the same address ever since. ---
**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:** [April 11, 2012, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-oldest-e-mail-address-among-the-dope/618465/31 "2012-04-11T21:56:09Z")
I had a Compuserve email addy ca. 1989, I think. Back then, the only way to use it was with the academic community. My domain was purchased about 1996, but whois says 1999. It’s changed servers 4 times, but I have the same domain. ---
**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:** [April 11, 2012, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-oldest-e-mail-address-among-the-dope/618465/32 "2012-04-11T22:42:45Z")
My earliest email address was \.\@canrem.com in 1995, in the days of telnetting into a remote system that offered email service–this was just before ISPs became widely affordable in Canada–but the company (Canada Remote Systems) no longer exists. Some time in 1997, I got my own domain, and, ever since, I’ve been managing my own email addresses and forwarding them to whatever ISP I have. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-oldest-e-mail-address-among-the-dope/618465/33 "2012-04-11T23:00:47Z")
Mine is the same since 1997. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-oldest-e-mail-address-among-the-dope/618465/34 "2012-04-11T23:20:53Z")
I’ve had the same Hotmail address since 99. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-oldest-e-mail-address-among-the-dope/618465/35 "2012-04-11T23:29:40Z")
I’m actually a little bit surprised at how recent all these are. My email addresses aren’t any older, I just assumed there would be a bunch more earlier. My oldest still-functional email address is from I believe 1997. My first email address is from 1993, but that no longer exists (so far as I know.) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-oldest-e-mail-address-among-the-dope/618465/36 "2012-04-11T23:46:56Z")
My hotmail goes back to at least 1998. My school/work email address goes back to my first computer class in 1985 or 86. I’d have to check my college transcript to see which summer that was. I know it was in summer school. Everybody in that _Intro to Computers_ class got a campus email address and login for the computer lab Vax mainframe. The email only worked on campus. We never even dreamed that you could email someone off campus. IIRC It was in the early 90’s before I was emailing off campus. That student email became my work email when I got hired to work in Computing Services. We’ve gone through at least 5 email servers since then. Each time our old email got migrated over. I think the oldest messages in my inbox are maybe 1996? I’d have to check. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-oldest-e-mail-address-among-the-dope/618465/37 "2012-04-12T00:04:58Z")
Hm, I had an AOL back in 96, which I dropped shortly afterwards for one at a local ISP which I still have, it is a spam catcher now. Then I had a Juno and then my main Earthlink one, which spawned 1 earthlink for use as an address for signing onto message boards and web pages. I also have a GMX from Germany that I use for personal correspondence and I just recently got a gmail for gamer use [registering for guild/corp websites that I don’t want to have either my earthlink business real name or my GMX friends emails] ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-oldest-e-mail-address-among-the-dope/618465/38 "2012-04-12T00:19:28Z")
Mine are all fairly average age, but this thread reminded me of my first email address ever: some dorky looking monstrosity with _two_ “@” signs in it. We had to give our email addresses in a college class, and the teacher was skeptical when I wrote mine down. Everybody else was writing stuff like “[joecool@aol.com](mailto:joecool@aol.com)” and I was writing down “me.and.my.long.name@gobbldygook@moregobbldygook.com” ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-oldest-e-mail-address-among-the-dope/618465/39 "2012-04-12T01:21:55Z")
I still have my college email, which I’ve had since 2001. That’s something they do for us, though. I also still have a hotmail account that I sometimes use, and I’ve had it since about 1999/2000. And, back in the day–say, 1997–I used to be the only one who used my mom’s AOL account. She still uses it; in fact, I just forwarded her an email there. So, while it’s not my address, if someone from back then emailed her asking for me, I’d still get it. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-oldest-e-mail-address-among-the-dope/618465/40 "2012-04-12T01:25:04Z")
I had a bitnet account in 1984 and used it until bitnet disappeared, around 1990. The replacement …@math.mcgill.ca has not changed since then. I have used a half dozen or so accounts since then (mostly when I visit some university), but that math.mcgill.ca is still the only one I use regularly. I guess my ISP has assigned me one; I have never tried to use it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-oldest-e-mail-address-among-the-dope/618465.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-oldest-e-mail-address-among-the-dope/618465.md?page=3)