I said: > The oldest thing I can actually document at the moment After further digging, I found something older: conclusive proof that I was present at the invention of the smiley. I've been heard to assert that before, but apparently someone has actually managed to unearth archives that had been thought long gone:
http://www.authentichistory.com/documents/1980s/smiley/complete_smiley_thread.html See Scott Fahlman's post on 19-Sep-82 11:44, and note the rapidity with which the idea spread below. I can be seen answering some unrelated question about halfway down the page. The CMU bboard system could legitimately be called a forerunner of usenet, though since it didn't travel further than the CS department's local net, it certainly wasn't the sort of community we now associate with netnews. Or then again maybe it was --- the fact that the department members had a need to invent such a symbol should give you some flavor of the place. Anyone able to beat that? regards, tom lane ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 5: don't forget to increase your free space map settings