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