I don't think
they had Internet chat rooms in the 1950s
( poshpaws, Tue 19 Nov 2002, 12:36, archived)

there were
probably lonely proto-geeks hunched over telegraph machines tapping out saucy morse code messages to each other...
( rogan, Tue 19 Nov 2002, 12:39, archived)

pen
pals.
( bob dinosaur, Tue 19 Nov 2002, 12:41, archived)

read "The Victorian Internet"
great book - and that's exactly what they did. Online dating in 1890!
( rob twitter.com/robmanuel is following you, Tue 19 Nov 2002, 12:42, archived)

that's how the term
engaged came about,
when people would try and get hold of someone for telegraphsex, if the other person didn't fancy it they would say they were engaged to put them off.
( Professor Fnord Regius Professor of B3ta Chronology, Tue 19 Nov 2002, 12:47, archived)

is that a real fact
if so I learned my new fact for the day, and I go to sleep wiser, and happier.
( Pootle, Tue 19 Nov 2002, 13:16, archived)

sadly i'm not 100% of fact
so there might not be total accuracy there. But in the absence of any proof to the contrary I think it's safe to take it as 'legend has it'.
( Professor Fnord Regius Professor of B3ta Chronology, Tue 19 Nov 2002, 13:21, archived)

hmmm, it sounds just about convincing enough
that said with certainty in my voice it will become a factoid, so it's good enough for pub use.
( Pootle, Tue 19 Nov 2002, 13:35, archived)

Thats
exactly what he /\ would say...

I thought it said "1990's". I'm numerically dyslexic.
(MrGravy, Tue 19 Nov 2002, 12:41, archived)

I'm magically delicious.

( grifftinfoilhat, Tue 19 Nov 2002, 12:43, archived)

I'm fullsome and satisfying.

( bovine www.richardtingley.co.uk, Tue 19 Nov 2002, 12:45, archived)

I'm a bowl
of All Bran.
( Mr Spleen Can do better. C-, Tue 19 Nov 2002, 13:05, archived)