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Comment by fooblat | Hacker News Reader

Pretty much every sentence in this article that uses the world "first" is wrong. Community Memory[0] is arguably the first social network and it was launched in 1973. For more information and depth on the origins of tcp/ip and email, I suggest the book Where Wizards Stay Up Late[1].

0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Memory

1. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/281818.Where_Wizards_Sta...

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Not to say you are wrong, but why do you claim that your one source is more right than the one source that is the article? Just saying that there's a book that says otherwise shouldn't be proof. E.g., I bet I can even find a book that says Trump is our savior, Jesus 2.0.

*edit: I knew this would get downvoted. Why discuss logically when you can downvote, right?

I have that book, too. I’d trust it more too. Not saying untruths couldn’t make it into the published works of yesteryear but there was a higher hurdle to publishing physical books than publishing this online article.

Community Memory in 1973 appears to pre-date the article's 1979.

For one thing, Fooblat's wiki link alone cites a couple of dozen sources. It's not just about one book.

For another, this isn't really a matter of opinion. If I say "the widget was invented in 1979," and you've got a widget that was manufactured in 1973, then I'm obviously mistaken, absent strong evidence that your widget is a hoax or something. My personal credibility doesn't enter into it.

For one thing, Fooblat's wiki link alone cites a couple of dozen sources. It's not just about one book.

For another, this isn't really a matter of opinion. If I say "the widget was invented in 1979," and you've got a widget that was manufactured in 1973, then I'm obviously wrong, absent strong evidence that your widget is a hoax or something.

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