DISQUS

Stacy · 1 year ago

Wow, you have seen the entire evolution! I am only now starting to check these social sites out, just Facebook and StumbleUpon so far.

I hope to join you guys on twitter soon, I see the trail you are blazing on StumbleUpon :)

SilentJay74 · 1 year ago

I got one for you. Before it was Promenade it was Q-Link. And I got you beat, I was Q-Link on a Commodore 64. Jesus, I just gave away my age and Geekiness in one swift stroke!

Tamar Weinberg · 1 year ago

Actually, Jay, it was Q-Link for all computers besides IBM PS/1s. But particularly for IBM PS/1s, they called it "Promenade." I have no idea why, but it made the experience a little more unique ;)

BarbaraKB · 1 year ago

Fun article, Tamar. Thanx!

True *social* contact online for me began with listservs in 1993. Moved on to Classmates.com and Amazon book reviews. I had anonymous names and handles.

What has changed in the last three years for me, is how much more open I am with my online activity. The openness makes it more fun and meaningful.

Look forward to reading other stories here :-)

Leif Hansen · 1 year ago

Great recent history review, thanks. Found your article through Barbara K's Tweet.
Warmly,
Leif
www.SparkSocialMedia.com

Leif Hansen · 1 year ago

Oh, and my story. I remember, I think about 1988, when I first saw someone type back to me from a BBS --oh my God was that exciting and a little freaky. It was like my computer had 'come alive' because the 'life' of some other person was now animating it. I think that was my hook point. And now we're training AI through our social activities and games... (see gwap.com)

Keri Morgret · 1 year ago

First computer with a modem was our Commodore 64, and a 300 baud modem (not acoustic, I'm not that old). I was online in 1985, possibly 1984. Somewhere around fourth grade.

First true internet access was 1995, as I went off to college in Silicon Valley (though I do remember using Yahoo earlier that year when the school I worked at had a connection).

Larry Brauner · 1 year ago

Unfortunately Tamar I was a much later adapter of social networking -- 2003.

But I was a very early adapter of computers and computing -- 1967!

Your friend in Monsey,
Larry Brauner

Kim Harrison · 1 year ago

Followed your tweet - great post. I tried to use AOL on a dial-up modem that didn't function well. Can still hear that sing-song GOODbye! The world wide web was such a mystery...

andrew · 1 year ago

I'm still not over that photo at the top - it looks like it was found in the Incan ruins...was it??

Tamar Weinberg · 1 year ago

haha, no, I made my father take a photo of an AOL 1.0 disk that was laying around and he used the granite countertop as his backdrop, I guess ;)

andrew · 1 year ago

: )

I really enjoyed this post (and always enjoy your sense of humor, haven't commented until today).

I was 10 in 1993, and I remember the type of chat rooms available to myself and my older brother. It was definitely an exciting time of innocence lost and future career interests gained. But we didn't know/definite it as such at the time.

Again, great, humanizing post.

andrew wee · 1 year ago

Tell us how you needed an acoustic coupler rig to dial into BBSes and i'll be really impressed!

mommy · 1 year ago

This article was most articulate, and thought provoking. To remember every detail, every year, purchase prices and all is quite intriguing. I am so proud of you and your efforts to convey your observations, evaluations, and your perceptions to others. I commend you always, Tamar, for all of your contributions of knowledge you share with others.
Love, Mom

KdFrawg · 1 year ago

I'm one of the older one, Tamar. I started on Compuserve CB Simulator in 1981. ;o)

Thanks for the great column!

andrew · 1 year ago

@ mommy: that was the cutest damn thing I've ever seen on this site.

Good for you guys : )

Sara Ferguson · 1 year ago

Now I feel old. Where is my walker?

I was surfing BBS way before the internet was known outside of geek circles. I used the computers at college at the time. When I finally got a computer it was a 386SX/33Mhz with 4MB RAM and a 180MB hard drive. I paid $1800.00 for it and got a 2400 modem with it. The case was a full tower and without anything in it weighed around 50lbs since it was steel. That was in 1992.

And that AOL disk is an eye soar. I was on AOL for a very very short time. Hated it because they wanted you only to stay on their site. They also didn't like me being connected the entire weekend either. Lets just say I downloaded a lot back then. ;) I got so many AOL disks that I would find new uses for them. Coasters, frisbees, chew toys for the dog, or I would find a new way to destroy them each time.

I suppose this is why I get looked at funny when I mentioned words like; Telnet, Gopher, Archie, BBS, or USENET. Most people now don't realize that the entire internet isn't made up of just http://www...

I like this post but I really feel old now. Where are my happy pills and walker?

Sara

avi · 1 year ago

great post, but the title is a bit misleading. online social interactions are quite a bit older than than 15 years. remember usenet? alt.binary.*? that dates back to 1979. so wouldn't that be 29 years? correct me if im wrong.

Tamar Weinberg · 1 year ago

Online social interactions existed way before, and I even was on BBSes (but in the late nineties). The fifteen years refers to my personal journey.

andrew · 1 year ago

@avi: she didn't claim it was a "history" of social interactions online, but rather, her take on it.

re-read the first line! :)

Tamar Weinberg · 1 year ago

I like you, Andrew :D

andrew · 1 year ago

:)

Likewise! Like I said, long-time reader, first-time commenter (here, at least). And, obviously, big-time fan!

Keep up the awesome work!

avi · 1 year ago

i didn't say the post was misleading, but rather the title. Perhaps a better one would be "MY Fifteen Years of Online Social Interactions"?

ob81 · 1 year ago

Nice write-up! I did a post like this a while back. I couldn't remember everything so descriptive like you did. :)

Brett Borders · 1 year ago

I'm personally delighted by the transformation, although I find it fatiguing to keep up with the sheer speed of the acceleration. There aren't enough hours in the day.

Coop · 1 year ago

Great article. Thanks for taking me back... way back. Fun stuff, and I remember it all. I even have an old AOL disk like in the photo, and I still have my first laptop, a Compaq Portable 286. Thing weighs a ton. It wasn't very portable. :-)

jon burg · 1 year ago

Great post! I've been saying this all along. Our behaviors aren't changing, it's the channel that is evolving, and we are mutually adaptive.

AOL had it all. Now it's scattered. Any bets on where this going one year out?

webprofessor · 1 year ago

Wow that brought back a lot of memories. I miss the early days of AOL chat rooms ... I made a lot of friends and got a lot of dates in real life that way.

Dana · 1 year ago

This Post is fantastic. My office mates and I were just talking about AOL "back in the day" and chatting with friends online. This just put the icing on the cake for our afternoon!

Kerstin · 1 year ago

Whoa... blast from the past. Definitely remember that good 'ol AOL disk, and being excited that I could finally get on to AOL from Canada. Also remember my father being more than unpleased with me for racking up those hourly charges.

I wonder if the AOL/Bebo deal will breathe some life back into it? Meh. Probably not.

Andrea Hill · 1 year ago

I love how "social media" is a big buzzword now, but like you say, there has been social interaction online for a looong time! I date my development of online communities back to 95, when I started building and mentoring others at geocities.com. The notion of community was big there, you picked a "neighbourhood" and received a URL that read like a street address. A map showed your street and which houses were occupied or vacant.

I then mined links for dmoz - the Open Directory Project, which was a bit of a folksonomy because volunteer editors like myself could add or edit categories as we saw fit (although generally a single editor would be in charge of a particular domain).

I've been on livejournal, wow, since 98 or 99?

I then worked on a site geared towards at-risk youth, which encouraged community through volunteer authors, as well as bulletin boards and chat rooms.

That was all in the last millennium. While the tools to leverage social media are much more available to Everyman, that's not to say the notion of communicating online wasn't there!

AJ · 1 year ago

Ah, you were one of the n00bs during the Eternal September. As the wikipedia article suggests, there are still people waiting for October 1. Hope springs eternal, I guess.

Other than that, I loved your article.

AJ · 1 year ago

Dang mark-up...

Lori · 1 year ago

Wow, I really enjoyed reading how you came to be online...it's really clear to me that the younger generations (I'm 36) have such a huge headstart on the rest of us. I didn't really grow up with computers, so it's been harder to make it all feel like second nature.

I refused to get an email address in college (early 90's) because I was afraid. There, I said it. I didn't understand what email was and I didn't want to be a part of it.

Then, I married a computer genuis. He insisted that I learn how to use a computer, and got us a dial-up connection to the internet. I used it tentatively for a long time.

What really got me online, and this is going to sound strange, was the death of Princess Diana. I spent hours on forums and at news sites, reading people's thoughts about her and posting my own. That sort of broke open the internet for me and took away my fear of being part of it all.

I've since learned never to say "never" when it comes to what I can or can't do online - proud moments for me include learning how to make my own favicon and getting sitelinks for my store. See, a non-tech girl can get the hang of life online! It's funny that I run a business that's entirely web based (no storefront, and I sell PDFs). If I can do it, anyone can.

Tamar Weinberg · 1 year ago

Hi Lori, thanks for sharing that awesome story. I might have to pass it onto my computerphobic relatives :)

Lori · 1 year ago

Yes, please do! When my parents were over for the 4th of July, we were talking about SEO and my dad said, "Lori, you are the only person I know who understands how the internet works". It was an amazing compliment, and just shows how far I've come :)

mikebingo · 10 months ago

I enjoyed this post, thanks! I think I feel a bit old now. I was 16 in 1993. :)

Tamar Weinberg · 10 months ago

Mikebingo, you weren't *that* much older. Only 4 years' difference!