3 ms·

I count myself as extremely lucky that I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I posted on Usenet before realizing the implications of the In

I count myself as extremely lucky that I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I posted on Usenet before realizing the implications of the Internet being a permanent record. That was sometime around 1990 while I was in grad school. It was still possible to get a job as a programmer after taking one course, and knowing a single language well, but not any libraries, OS's, or frameworks.

ggm 4y ago
Most of my usenet stupidity, and the flame wars which got me chucked off JANET mailgroup for a month (along with another person who now is a reasonably senior policy advisor on UK internet policy) got lost when Google decided usenet history was boring and deleted the archives they'd acquired from the previous hoarders on tape. If you were "stupid" before 1987, you are probably safe. In the 88-92 window it's a mixed bag and after 95, you may never escape your mistakes.