Everyone's favorite time waster this week seems to be the google archive of old usenet posts.
This one is particularly interesting. Thanks, brev.
I took a brief look. I used to post a lot, but mostly to local newsgroups, like panix.chat. I remember coming down hard on a newbie once for I-forget-what. Someone I respected (stc) came down on me pretty hard for my tone, and he kept asking me if I knew who I was talking to. I didn't, and I stood by my words. (It turns out it was the e-i-c of Time magazine; my defense was basically "we're all equals here; don't expect any special treatment". panix.chat may have been intimidating to the newcomers, but it was a very warm and welcoming place to the locals.)
My first post was to comp.lang.c, asking about algorithms to calculate Pi. That was back around 1989 or so, and I remember posting with great trepidation - this message is about to around the world, are you *sure* you want to continue?
Let me repeat that: Wow.
I wonder if Tom Christiansen ever roots through old stuff like that, perhaps with mixed nostalgia and sentimentality.
