On Fri, 17 Feb 2006, Tom Lane wrote:
> 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?
Sorry, I was still in Junior High in '82 :( Man, you are *old* :)
----
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