It was 1996. And I didn't have a personal email address. I don't think it was particularly strange to be in that predicament in 1996. The techies all had one by that time, but I was by no means a techie. I just didn't see the need. I had a school email address, after all. I had used that for both my academic and personal needs. Not to mention that I still wrote the occasional letter to friends and family. Yes, actual snail mail. Again, not uncommon in 1996. Less common 14 years later.
It was around that time that I started asking questions about myself. Without going into detail, I was determining the type of person to whom I was attracted. I've always been a late bloomer. Whereas most people figure that stuff out in high school, it took me until my sophomore year in college to consider such things. So, I went to certain message boards to find discussions about hetero and homosexuality. Innocent enough stuff. And I participated, asking questions and involving myself in conversations. Informative stuff.
Where is the intersection point, you ask?
One day while visiting a message board discussing homosexuality, a person suggested that I get a personal email address. It sounded interesting, but I didn't understand the need since I had an academic address. He suggested that the personal email address would allow me to separate personal from academic. So, I asked him how to go about getting an address. He suggested I get a hotmail address. I wasn't certain what to respond. I was interested in that kind of address (and by that kind of address, I meant one with the word, hot, in it. It sounded to me like the email equivalent of a late night telephone commercial with a buxom blonde speaking in ridiculously whispered tones. He, of course, told me it was completely legitimate. But I would hear nothing more about it.
A short time later, I saw in my academic email inbox a message from a good friend. And that friend had a hotmail address. I decided to do some research at that point and discovered that hotmail was, in fact, legitimate.
Boy, did I feel dumb.
1 comment:
The first I heard of hotmail, I had the same thought until it appeared in an email address from a good friend mine. I used Yahoo first during the spam free time then had to give up and switch to hotmail after it was completely filled with spam. Few years later, I gave up hotmail for the same reason.
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