...But the Internet didn`t even exist in 1969....

Stormy · Dec 06, 2009 5:59 AM

I've been noticing this weird glitch with some sites lately, including this one. I think this speaks for itself.... O.o

When I first saw this a few months ago, I assumed it was just a weird glitch with this forum and just forgot about it. But then I noticed it again on a different forum with the same year, 1969. (I forgot to take a screenshot though ): ) This forum also happens to use Phpbb, so I thought it might have something to do with that.
But just today, I read something in a Neopets article about someone with a 1969 join date. Upon doing more research (read: Google), I found that this has also happened with some Youtube join dates, DeviantART comments, and other forums (look at the join dates on their posts). Here is another example; posters #6 and #7's join dates both say 1969 on their posts, but their profiles both display normal dates. Even Google seems to be having glitch causing problems in their groups.

Has anyone ever heard of this before? Why December 1969? It seems really odd and I can't think of any possible explanations for why so many sites would have the same weird glitch.

nintendofreak · Dec 06, 2009 6:48 AM

I've noticed that on a few articles posted on gamespot that shows december 1969.

bmah · Dec 06, 2009 10:50 AM

I've seen this date before in many other forums I go to. There's a reason for that, but I can't remember why that happens unfortunately.

Edit: Oh! It has something to do with what's called a Unix timestamp. When the site server becomes corrupt/has an error of some sort, timestamps, which mark your date of a post, can become corrupted. Corrupted timestamps end up making some posts go back to a default date, which is Dec. 31 1969 for some reason.

Stormy · Dec 06, 2009 10:31 PM

Thanks bmah!

I looked up more information about this, and it looks like the timestamps are generated from the time since January 1st, 1970, the "Unix Epoch." So it makes sense that that would be the default.

Depending on what timezone you're in, January 1st, 1970 could also be December 31st, 1969, which is probably why it showed up that way for me. Interesting...

Edit: Now this makes sense to me. =P

Neotyguy40 · Dec 06, 2009 10:46 PM

bmah wrote:

I've seen this date before in many other forums I go to. There's a reason for that, but I can't remember why that happens unfortunately.
Edit: Oh! It has something to do with what's called a Unix timestamp. When the site server becomes corrupt/has an error of some sort, timestamps, which mark your date of a post, can become corrupted. Corrupted timestamps end up making some posts go back to a default date, which is Dec. 31 1969 for some reason.

It's also when the internal clock battery in your motherboard dies...

Spyrorocks · Dec 07, 2009 2:15 AM

Yep, you guys are right, the UNIX timestamp is calculated in seconds from that specific time. When there is no data, it is at 0, so thats considered the start. Lots of web applications use UNIX timestamps, including phpbb.

Spinner the Faun · Dec 07, 2009 5:26 AM

Stormy wrote:

I've been noticing this weird glitch with some sites lately, including this one. I think this speaks for itself.... O.o
When I first saw this a few months ago, I assumed it was just a weird glitch with this forum and just forgot about it. But then I noticed it again on a different forum with the same year, 1969. (I forgot to take a screenshot though ): ) This forum also happens to use Phpbb, so I thought it might have something to do with that.
But just today, I read something in a Neopets article about someone with a 1969 join date. Upon doing more research (read: Google), I found that this has also happened with some Youtube join dates, DeviantART comments, and other forums (look at the join dates on their posts). Here is another example; posters #6 and #7's join dates both say 1969 on their posts, but their profiles both display normal dates. Even Google seems to be having glitch causing problems in their groups.
Has anyone ever heard of this before? Why December 1969? It seems really odd and I can't think of any possible explanations for why so many sites would have the same weird glitch.

It's my fault. I took my laptop back to the 1960's a few months back and left it their by mistake. I guess people have been using it.

Keep in mind it was a complete accident, and next time I won't leave anything behind.

Vistnaulmus · Dec 07, 2009 4:33 PM

Spinner the Faun wrote:

Stormy wrote:
I've been noticing this weird glitch with some sites lately, including this one. I think this speaks for itself.... O.o
When I first saw this a few months ago, I assumed it was just a weird glitch with this forum and just forgot about it. But then I noticed it again on a different forum with the same year, 1969. (I forgot to take a screenshot though ): ) This forum also happens to use Phpbb, so I thought it might have something to do with that.
But just today, I read something in a Neopets article about someone with a 1969 join date. Upon doing more research (read: Google), I found that this has also happened with some Youtube join dates, DeviantART comments, and other forums (look at the join dates on their posts). Here is another example; posters #6 and #7's join dates both say 1969 on their posts, but their profiles both display normal dates. Even Google seems to be having glitch causing problems in their groups.
Has anyone ever heard of this before? Why December 1969? It seems really odd and I can't think of any possible explanations for why so many sites would have the same weird glitch.
It's my fault. I took my laptop back to the 1960's a few months back and left it their by mistake. I guess people have been using it.
Keep in mind it was a complete accident, and next time I won't leave anything behind.

Wasn't this issue already solved by the other members?

Namba · Dec 08, 2009 1:09 AM

The internet did in fact exist in the 1960s. I think you're thinking of the World Wide Web, which was somewhere in the 80s. When you say "internet", you mean communication between two computers, which was what they first used it for.

midget_roxx · Dec 08, 2009 1:18 AM

Chryokinesis wrote:

The internet in fact exist in the 1960s. I think you're thinking of the World Wide Web, which was somewhere in the 80s. When you say "internet", you mean communication between two computers, which was what they first used it for.

Connecting between 2 computers is called networking wink

Namba · Dec 08, 2009 1:28 AM

But isn't internet required for networking?

Phoenix_Flyer · Dec 08, 2009 1:40 PM

It's my fault. I took my laptop back to the 1960's a few months back and left it their by mistake. I guess people have been using it.
Keep in mind it was a complete accident, and next time I won't leave anything behind.

I did originally think that Rurik was a bit savage in ripping your arguments apart, but I side with him now, because that is rubbish. I was open to the fact that some people view vampires as beings who feed on other people's auras/energy; I have heard that theory before. But going back in time is utter rubbish.
If you're being sarcastic then fair enough, I will apologise for biting you, so to speak (I just woke up), but every thread doesn't need a sarcastic comment like that.

As for me, I've seen silly dates on comments before, but not quite that far back.

Stormy · Dec 08, 2009 5:59 PM

Chryokinesis wrote:

The internet did in fact exist in the 1960s. I think you're thinking of the World Wide Web, which was somewhere in the 80s. When you say "internet", you mean communication between two computers, which was what they first used it for.

Yeah, I know the difference; tbh I just thought "World Wide Web" would sound funny in the title. tongue I think "Internet" refers to more than just two computers though.

Wikipedia wrote:

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private and public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope that are linked by a broad array of electronic and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries a vast array of information resources and services, most notably the inter-linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support electronic mail.

And actually according to this, the ARPANET was first used in 1969. They didn't start using the term "Internet" until 1974.

Yes, I just used Wikipedia as a source. Yes, I am ashamed.

bmah · Dec 09, 2009 5:17 AM

This is probably one of the better explanations I've found that's easy to understand:

I'd guess that the forum is submitting the date of the post as zero
rather than null when new posts are made.
If I remember correctly - Unix time stamps are the number of milli-
seconds since Midnight the morning of Jan 1 1970. If a zero was being
saved as the timestamp when you go to display your posts they will
show as last thing Dec 31 1969.

source

Stormy · Dec 09, 2009 12:22 PM

Hmm.... I wonder what would happen if they were being submitted as null then?

~cornys~ · Dec 10, 2009 1:52 AM

That's when I really joined though..... mines wrong... it says something like last year or something... it was December '69 stupid computers are always screwing up! lol

#1 Dec 06, 2009 5:59 AM

...But the Internet didn`t even exist in 1969....

#2 Dec 06, 2009 6:48 AM

Re: ...But the Internet didn`t even exist in 1969....

#3 Dec 06, 2009 10:50 AM

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#4 Dec 06, 2009 10:31 PM

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#5 Dec 06, 2009 10:46 PM

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#6 Dec 07, 2009 2:15 AM

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#7 Dec 07, 2009 5:26 AM

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#8 Dec 07, 2009 4:33 PM

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#9 Dec 08, 2009 1:09 AM

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#10 Dec 08, 2009 1:18 AM

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#11 Dec 08, 2009 1:28 AM

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#12 Dec 08, 2009 1:40 PM

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#13 Dec 08, 2009 5:59 PM

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#14 Dec 09, 2009 5:17 AM

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#15 Dec 09, 2009 12:22 PM

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#16 Dec 10, 2009 1:52 AM

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