Vintage Email

[Skywagon]

I was poking around today out of boredom with some of my very old files.  I found email addresses I had with JUNO, Compuserve, and hotmail.  I decided to see if JUNO was still around.  Look what I found on their website.....get you some of that for only $29.95/mo

 

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[Selden]

I started in 1983 with something at University of Michigan whose name I forgot, then PROFS, which ran on an IBM mainframe. Then Unix e-mail software, first ELM (from ELectronic Mail), then PINE (Pine Is Not Elm) until my employer forced me to switch to Microsoft Outlook, which I instantly hated. Ever since ~2006 Gmail has been my default. I have tried other email apps, but I always come back to Gmail.

[wbw6cos]

MindSpring

 

 

It took me a minute, but I could not remember the name.   I had to search ISP with something, something,  Earth in the name (EarthLink).   After a few clicks, I found the origins.   What a blast from the past.

 

I had email addresses with the ISP's over the years, but I use Yahoo (since '99) and Gmail (since '02).    Yahoo is the one I give out (still waiting on my free motorcycles!!) and the other is for family.

[Rougarou]

From my profile here:

 

Also, we still have my daughters recording on the internet answering machine (callwave).

 

rav.wav

[realshelby]

I was told years ago that my "hotmail" address was too old. Bad image to those that see it. They forgot to ask if I cared! Still have it for my personal e-mail address.....

 

This thread has my mind warped trying to think of the name of the "web accelerator" program I used to have that sped up dial up connections. Paid a few bucks a month and it really made a bid difference in speed...

[lawnchairboy]

still on my original hotmail address.

[Sonor]

I remember starting out with Prodigy and Compuserv before Prodigy was purchased by Sears. Dang y'all, were getting on in years ... 

(And I used to use PINE - wow, have we come a long way)

[Selden]

Last fall I learned about the risks of OG (Original Gangster) email addresses: The Joys of Owning an ‘OG’ Email Account. By the way, Brian Krebs and Christopher Krebs (formerly of CISA) are not related. Just a weird coincidence.

 

My e-mail name is old (1985), short, but cryptic, so I'm not concerned, although I do get spam, averaging 2-3/day. Gmail does a good job of spam filtering, far better than the pricey, but ineffective anti-spam software that my last employer of record used for Outlook. For some reason, the number of porn messages in my spam folder has gone down sharply over the past 6 months. Perhaps they figured out that I am 74....

 

 

[lkraus]

I still have my @att.net address from when their dial-up Worldnet service was in beta (~1994).  Dropped my Compuserve and Delphi accounts a couple years later.  The AT&T accounts were later transferred to Yahoo, which has had multiple security breaches. My contact list was hacked and my contacts started getting spam from my address, so I deleted the contact list and that account is now reserved for "junk" sites.  It collects about 150 junk emails a week.

We finally got hi-speed internet and new email accounts from Insight-Roadrunner-Spectrum in 2012. It blocks most spam,  but I've found that they also block/delay a lot of legitimate mail along with the spam.  All email from my financial services company gets bounced, so no electronic statements, tax forms, prospectuses or advisories get through. No luck trying to whitelist the source addresses.   Sites using two factor sign-ins via email also don't work, because they are only valid for a limited time, and 12 to 48 hours is too long.

I also set up a Gmail account when I bought an Android phone, but I don't like the fact that all my Gmail can be reviewed and harvested for data collection, so I rarely use that address. Getting ads for products mentioned only in an email to my friend is just creepy.

 

Anybody know of a use for a 300 baud Atari modem?

[Rougarou]

2 minutes ago, lkraus said:

I still have my @att.net address from when their dial-up Worldnet service was in beta (~1994).

 

My wife's account is the main account of the household and is a .att.net account.  My two accounts, gmail and yahoo are junk accounts that are used for boards, nonsense sign ups that require an email to access, yet, I get minimal, very minimal spam.

 

Generally, when someone wants to correspond with me via email, I give my work account.

[szurszewski]

2 hours ago, Sonor said:

I remember starting out with Prodigy and Compuserv before Prodigy was purchased by Sears. Dang y'all, were getting on in years ... 

(And I used to use PINE - wow, have we come a long way)

 

I'm a young'n (too young to know how to spell that, I guess) - my first internet connected computer and IBM PS ...something... purchased from Sears and using Prodigy. That was maybe in junior high? I had a bunch of email addresses in college from places that eventually discontinued service or just got way to spam filled - the only two I miss are my first hotmail address (bobbarker@) and szurszewski@polandmail 

 

I don't remember the domain, but I do remember, being a wise ass 20 year old, on the first service that I came across that didn't have a max character count for the username, I signed up as subantidisestablishmentarianism@....whatever it was .com; I don't recall getting much mail there...

[Sonor]

I used a service called myrealbox.com before Google.  Then of course, Google came along and everyone jumped.

[Ron-M]

I am still hanging in there with aol.com.