So when did you first start using the Internet?
 

Some comments about text signing, chat anachronisms, etc made me curious as to how long people have actually been using the Internet. It might be interesting to see the historical access makeup of Cougarguard members.

I was online in 1985 using a Bell 103 before it was called the Internet.
I was online December 93 using a USRobotics 28.8 modem when the Internet was basically in its current form.

1995. Slow crappy modem with slow internet connection in Taipei, Taiwan. Used the internet to catch up on NBA scores.

1995, my freshman year at BYU.

1993 - Bought a computer with a 14.4 modem and someone gave me the dial-up numbers of a few local bulletin boards. I first heard the term "Internet" on the BBs and eventually found a local "ISP" that would simply connect me to the Internet without forcing me through their interface (many of the big BBs back in the old days wanted to be gateways to the Internet - e.g. CompuServ).

1994 at BYU.

Winter of 1995. I got home from my mission in Aug 1995 and a girl I met asked me if she was allowed to send an "email" to her brother who had just left on his mission. I had no idea what she was talking about.

I was accessing local nets and BBS's in the 80s.

I didn't even know there was such a thing in the 80's. How did you find that stuff?

My dad's job was to manage large computers at a university, so he had a terminal and modem at home, and I had a friend who was a sysop for a BBS.

Ironically, the reason I stopped frequenting his BBS was because of anti-Mormon messages directed my way.

I guess back in the day, I was doing simple unix commands, and the like?

If the question is the actual TCP/IP based Internet, I'd have to say 1992. Mostly usenet but also some gopher, IRC, etc.

But been around BBS's, etc. for many years before that. In fact I ran a Comodore based BBS in middle school. 1982 or so.