Dumb Post Friday - Geeks Gone Wild

[B_big dirigible]

The 'net is a recent development. I suspect that most of us remember the first real web site we found on our own. Whether we'll admit it is another matter.

My first was a combined site (woo-hoo, jackpot!) for "The Clapper" and Chia-Pet. That was back in the days when the novelty of the coffee pot at Cambridge was just starting to wane. (The Chia-Pet part was mildly interesting, actually. "The Clapper" wasn't.)

Despite that experience, I stuck with it and eventually figured this Internet thing out. More or less. Although it was a leisurely year or two before I started writing my own web sites.

Anyone else care to admit to his shaky start at "surfing"?

 

[crescendo69]

I am still a little shaky. My first time online I ordered some jazz piano transcriptions of Oscar Peterson, my hero. I can't remember the site. It was about 3 years ago at a public library, and I used my credit card. Yeah, I know, a little risky. But I got them in the mail in 5 days from Canada.

 

[tap-the-honda]

1st site i ever visited was yahoo

 

[Duality]

I received my first PC as a Christmas gift from my parents in 1999 (I was 14)... up until then, my parents were always really against them, but they caved only because my then Biology teacher told them about what a great tool they were for bright young students such as myself. I'd say we first got the Internet about 6 months later.

The first thing I searched for? Fake nude pictures of Britney Spears. :biggrin1:

 

[ManlyBanisters]

I was BBS-ing long before I was surfing - I have fond memories of good old pegasus mail under DOS. Most of the boards I frequented were related to my research and rather too boring to list here. Internet wise - I think I started out from Lycos and found my way to the dark and gloomy places where propellerhead spods discussed techno and where the next illegal rave was going to be. Yikes!

 

[Onslow]

The 'net is a recent development. I suspect that most of us remember the first real web site we found on our own. Whether we'll admit it is another matter.

No, I do not have any recall of the first web site I encountered, either real or fake.

My first was a combined site (woo-hoo, jackpot!) for "The Clapper" and Chia-Pet. That was back in the days when the novelty of the coffee pot at Cambridge was just starting to wane. (The Chia-Pet part was mildly interesting, actually. "The Clapper" wasn't.)

(note to self)Purchase The Clapper and have it shipped to Big Dirigible immediately. Better yet, have a gross of them shipped to him (along with dancing leprechuans who will fix them up to all of BD's electrical items after which they will clap wildly for the next decade setting his electric gadgets, gizmos and appliances on an off, off and on continuously).

Anyone else care to admit to his shaky start at "surfing"?

It was Halloween 1998 when I first attached to the internet--as indicated already, I have no idea where I first went or what I looked at. It did not at that time occur to me that someone would later be interested in knowing. My first internet provider was Prodigy, I am no longer with them as they pissed me off. (However they did give me a little booklet which helped familiarize me with the internet; so, it was not a total loss).

 

[braumeister]

My first time at surfing was in '94 or '95 when I was an undergrad. I don't remember what web sites I went to, but I remember there wasn't much available at the time. I found the newsgroups much more interesting.

I remember seeing Amazon's early web site, and wondering why I needed a credit card for it (can't I mail a check and they'll hold my order until then?) and was it a scam?

 

[ClaireTalon]

The first site I had a look at was Yahoo also, because I had heard that you could find anything from there. I browsed through some newspaper sites, only to find the archives were locked except you had a credit card ready. That was around 02/1997.

However, long before this, I got in contact with the Internet's predecessors: ARPANET and MILNET. Both were nothing like the Internet, for example, there was no porn, but a great number of the operators had private uses for it, communicating through it like we do today with ICQ, or other messengers.

 

[SpeedoGuy]

I was in grad school in 1994 when I got my first taste of web surfing.

I remember it not being easy then to find porn on the web.

 

[earllogjam]

I was an early AOL'er. The interface was poor, and the dial-up modem was slow, verrrrrry slow. Sites with pictures were excruciating. Viewing those naked men pages would suck up an afternoon easy.

For a while at first I thought AOL was the Internet. How silly is that?

 

[dong20]

I was BBS-ing long before I was surfing - I have fond memories of good old pegasus mail under DOS. Most of the boards I frequented were related to my research and rather too boring to list here. Internet wise - I think I started out from Lycos and found my way to the dark and gloomy places where propellerhead spods discussed techno and where the next illegal rave was going to be. Yikes!

I remember Pegasus mail. I can't recall the first website I visited. I rememeber it had a netscape grey background. I think it was 1995. I think my first ISP was compuserve, which pretty much sucked. I dabbled with AOL for about a week, after that I can't recall.

I've never been shaky with the 'net' though, which is probably just as well the I derived my living from it in various ways for years! In a peripheral way I still earn from those early days.

 

[SteveHd]

I don't remember the first site I visited. I do remember the first porn pic I viewed. I downloaded it and others from a local BBS.

My first web access was via CompuServe and that was before AOL even existed. I used Netscape and it seemed to be THE browser at that time although I knew of others. I think I remember "Mosaic" being one of the earlier ones. I remember sites using a gray background as dong20 mentioned.

 

[dong20]

I don't remember the first site I visited. I do remember the first porn pic I viewed. I downloaded it and others from a local BBS.

My first web access was via CompuServe and that was before AOL even existed. I used Netscape and it seemed to be THE browser at that time although I knew of others. I think I remember "Mosaic" being one of the earlier ones. I remember sites using a gray background as dong20 mentioned.

I remember NCSA Mosaic. It was (I believe) the first to display inline images as opposed to in a separate window.

If you're feeling nostalgic, it's still available.

 

[fratpack]

To this day I still can't figure out this computer thing. :redface:

 

[dong20]

To this day I still can't figure out this computer thing. :redface:

Good, job security.:tongue:

 

[mindseye]

I don't remember the first website I visited (and it's kind of shaky anyway, because I was using gopher back in the early 1990's.)

The first webpage I ever made was an April Fool's hoax for an organization called the "Mormon/Gay Towel Exchange" -- a faux volunteer service that arranged swaps for Mormons who need sets of "His and Hers and Hers and Hers" towels and gay men who need sets of "His and His" towels.

Two of the questions from the site FAQ were:

Q: Is it true you once sent David Koresh a set of one "His" and seventeen "Hers" towels?

A: We hold our client list in strictest confidence, so we are able to neither confirm nor deny this rumor.

Q: Can I get AIDS from swapping towels with a homosexual?

A: We only accept brand-new towels for trade. You can't get AIDS from swapping towels with a Mormon either.

David Koresh was more prominent in the news at that time, which may give you an idea of when I wrote the page.

 

[SteveHd]

If you're feeling nostalgic, it's still available.

Nah. I have an interest in history but there are limits.

 

[ManlyBanisters]

Good, job security.:tongue:

:LOL: Yeah, good, init?

 

[agnslz]

I don't remember the first website I visited (and it's kind of shaky anyway, because I was using gopher back in the early 1990's.)

The first webpage I ever made was an April Fool's hoax for an organization called the "Mormon/Gay Towel Exchange" -- a faux volunteer service that arranged swaps for Mormons who need sets of "His and Hers and Hers and Hers" towels and gay men who need sets of "His and His" towels.

Two of the questions from the site FAQ were:



David Koresh was more prominent in the news at that time, which may give you an idea of when I wrote the page.

That is hilarious!:biggrin: What a great April Fool's joke!