Online Chat in the Year 1903

Alien54 writes "Irving Vermilya is one of the legendary geeks from the dawn of the electric age. Beginning in 1903, at the age of 13, he helped set up an extensive private telegraph line in his hometown of Mount Vernon, New York. In order to use the line, individuals had to learn to send the dots-and-dashes of Morse code, and also interpret the clicks of the telegraph receiver. (The receiver clicks were loud enough to be heard throughout a room, so you could constantly monitor the traffic on the line.) By around 1907, this telegraph setup had been extended to 42 locations, forming a kind of party line, where everyone connected could listen in as they wished to the two-way telegraphic conversations. See the original full article here. Sounds vaguely similar to guys running around setting up wifi networks."

Comments

Assholes are assholes...then and now...

[Pete (big-pete)]

A few days after this most beautiful call down that we had received, I was surprised to hear a continuous roar in my phones from Cannon's spark. I sat there fully ten minutes listening to it, and never a let up. Pretty soon, in walked Cannon, and said he had had a little argument with 42 Broadway, so he left a book on his key when he came out. He didn't seem to worry about it, and before he got back and took the book off, one hour and twenty minutes had elapsed. I am sure no one got much through, as when we listened in, it was as quiet as a graveyard. The navy yard did manage to get up courage then and asked him "what he meant by such actions", to which I seem to recall a reply telling him "to mind his own business and shut up".

People can talk about the September that never ended, but it goes to show that people misbehaving "online" due to anoniminity is nothing new...

This part of the story really rings a bell when you look at the behaviour of some of the kiddies online, particularly in the days when winnuke ruled the channels on IRC...

-- Pete.