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

Nerds

[twenty-exty-six]

Just goes to show you, there have always been nerds, and there always will be.

A short biography of Irving Vermilya

[a-aiyar]

The article is not a fake. Irving Vermilya was a pioneer in the formative years of amateur radio in the US. He caught the bug after listening to talk by Marconi when he was twelve. He was one of the first members of the Radio Club of America, using the call sign VN, and was the first licensed amateur radio operator in the US. Later in life he switched to the callsign W1-ZE. Here's a short biography of this remarkable man.

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.

The conversations went something like this....

[MagicDude]

To Vermila - Stop
LOL - Stop
WTF? - Stop
OMG - Stop

Re:The conversations went something like this....

[Pete (big-pete)]

To Vermila - Stop
LOL - Stop
WTF? - Stop
OMG - Stop

I don't know, they weren't THAT much different at times, if you read the article:

It was the custom for every one to say "good morning" and then sign off his or her call letters, when we got out of bed, and "good night" before retiring. Some of the operators kept scandalous hours. In fact, some said "GN" after our early risers had said "GM" for the next day. So you see, some of the night hawks were constantly a day behind themselves. New Year's night was always great on this. We would hear some fellow going to bed at 8:00 a.m. next morning, after we had heard our other early risers say "GM" at 5:00 a.m. I always kept my instrument cut in, and thought nothing of hearing my pal, Milo White, say "GN" three o'clock in the morning.

What exciting times they lived in...anyway, now it is time for me to say "GN"...

-- Pete.

1903 leet

[clambake]

...--.--+,--,,,=

Now, just imagine donloading porn at 300dps (dot/dash per second)

The Victorian Internet

[blamanj]

The telegraph age has many parallels, see the book above for interesting tales including the stock market bubble effect caused by the telegraph.