MetaFilter

What's the deal with your nickname? How did you get it? If your nickname is self-explanatory, then tell everyone when you first started using the internet, and what was the first thing that made you say "wow, this isn't just a place for freaks after all?" Was it a website? Was it an email from a long-lost friend? Go on, spill it.

Nickname: name and birth year, duh. Using the net since 1994. Can't remember an epiphany, sorry.

I *do* remember being on a service that had net access, and in a chat room sort of thing admitting that I had not tried the net. Others insisted that I had to do so, so I did.

I remember managing to establish my first SLIP dial-up connection with -- well, it was probably Netscape 2. I called a co-worker over and told him what I'd done. His first reaction: "Go to mtv.com!" So I did. And waited. And waited. And waited. I think they had one massive graphic on their homepage. I eventually gave up.

I think my brother told me about Yahoo. He showed me a local university's computer lab, and I was quite impressed.

Can't remember how I found Metafilter. I do remember that I found memepool first and thought it was cool. But this place is cooler. :) I read it for several months and finally signed up when I found myself wanting to comment.