Old folks: When did you first access the internet?

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I first accessed the internet October 1998 using WebTV.

As soon as it became publicly available, can't remember when that was now. I tended to use USENET more than the Internet at the beginning as it replaced the old dial up bulletin boards.

1995 using AOL dialup on a computer my parents loaned me while I was off work on disability leave.

Probably at school when I was about 11. We had computers before then but didn't use internet.

And I never had internet access in my home until I was 19.

^
I went on groups (probably forgetting exact format now) uk.rec.gardening and uk.rec.diy.

I took a networking course as part of an MSCS program I was in part time (got degree in 1992). I remember the instructor had us looking at RFPs using accounts on the University system (Unix). Not exciting. I guess we were using ftp. The RFPs were on different University sites e.g. wustl.edu.

EDIT: actually we were logging on to remote servers using guest accounts. It took me a while to remember that, considering I do web programming every work day. So long ago, things were so different.

Back around 1988-1989, when dial-up BBSs were just starting to provide links to the Internet.

Imagine trying to download a 640x480 16-color graphic image at 1200 baud.

Unmoderated USENET was something else. All kinds of crazy fudes going on. And no one could put a stop to any of it. You couldn't edit or delete posts either.

Problem with USENET after a while was the volume of spam and trolling. Some groups just drowned under the weight of the dross never to be seen again.

1997 in high school

In 1999, I was almost 29.

Late 90s in high school, looking up information for an assignment.