Oh boy, my first usage of the internet was...1990 I think. Using/learning NALCOMIS for tracking maintenance and inventory for the stuff I was learning to fix. Dumb terminals. We did end up getting PCs a few years later, which of course was used for Solitare, Minesweeper, and Doom on breaks or any time we had nothing to fix or clean and weren't allowed to leave (surprisingly often).
Then in college, chat rooms and ICQ led to meeting my wife. Then a job as tech support for AOL (outsourced, until they moved it all to India). And eventually EQ, etc. Not sure when I first stumbled on to HF Boards, but I know it was a few years before I registered, and then a couple more before I posted, and another year or two before I became a regular at more than lurking.
Oh god, I just went as far back as it would take me for my post history. A ROR thread, prior to arbitration (2014). Boy were most of us wrong about so much in that. I was projecting the salary cap to be $88M for 2019-20, and over $100M for 2023-24. Also much talk about who is/will be worth more....MacK/ROR/Duchene.