I'm beginning to realize what an issue age is among web hosts. When I first started reading this forum, I would have stated that it doesn't matter to me what the age is of someone I'm doing business with. I've seen flame wars erupt here over the age of people who own hosting companies. Since a poll is anonymous, perhaps those people who are a bit sensitive about their age won't mind doing the poll, if they don't want to participate in the discussion.
Thanks,

I'm 23. Not sensitive about my age at all, I've been working in this industry (literally) for nearly a decade, and have been making money at it that long as well.

21 here. Played with photoshop since 15, became a professional freelancer at 18, and got my first full time job as a designer at 19.

Excuse me? Over the hill at 40? Don't ask at 41? Gimme a break you whipper-snapper!

41, shortly. Been involved in the Internet as a user or developer since long before the browser was invented. And I don't consider myself 'over-the-hill', far from it.

I would add that age matters less in business than maturity does. Its a subtle distinction that many acknowledge only on the surface.

I sometimes read this board and wonder if I am the oldest here. ~sigh~ to be young again.:bawling:

I am 46, my first contact with the Internet was on 386SX with a 300 baud modem, there were news groups and gopher the www, http: had just been released on the world. I remember waiting for a web page to load and it taking 5 minutes on avg.

Gosh I am old:D

22 and loving life :D

12

:pimp: No comment.


But, HEY . . . At least I voted. :D

Originally posted by Monte
I sometimes read this board and wonder if I am the oldest here. ~sigh~ to be young again.:bawling:

I am 46, my first contact with the Internet was on 386SX with a 300 baud modem, there were news groups and gopher the www, http: had just been released on the world. I remember waiting for a web page to load and it taking 5 minutes on avg.

Gosh I am old:D

300 baud modem?

If I was only lucky back then.

Back in my day it took 2 tin cans connected with fishing wire to get on the internet, one user would take the other end across town and shout "Hey Ma, I'm on the internet!"

46. And I learned Cobol, RPGII, Assembler and Basic on a huge UNIVAC in a big air conditioned room. Keypunch cards were soooo much fun. :stickout

Over the hill? I haven't been able to climb the d*mn thing yet, how can I be over it?

43 Guess Im in the Dont Ask catagory! :)

I figured this poll would stir up some response. :)

But, be assured, it wasn't ill intended, just humor intended.

In all fairness..... I'm 35 myself. The average lifespan here in the USA is something like 76. (I don't know the exact figure). So, after you're 38 years old, you're technically half way there, or over-the-hill. But, I figured I'd get more out of the kids than the old guys. Perhaps it's past their bed times? ;)

16...

19 :D

nothing much that I could do (legally) at 19 that I couldn't do at 18.. but I'm waiting for that 2 1 in a year and couple months

well, not like I'm gonna go out and drink my ass off and go to strip clubs anyways, but I think I will enjoy when I turn 20 in a couple months as I won't have 'teen' behind my age anymore...

(Hint) I was in high school when US President John F. Kennedy was assasinated.
Saw the Beatles debut on the Ed Sullivan show.

SLabHost

35 is over the hill? Good heavens, boy.

My best friend had four children after age 38. Don't be tellin' her she's over the hill before she even started, or you'll find yourself over her knee!

Over the hill.

Sheesh!

Although it's nice how you let us choose between two categories if we're on the fence, e.g. 30, 35... do you feel young, or feel old, at 30? Screws up the poll, but makes some of us feel good to slip ourselves into a younger category.


:D Bailey

Age shouldn't matter, maturity should. Too bad that's not how the world works.

Originally posted by ToastyX
Age shouldn't matter, maturity should. Too bad that's not how the world works.

The generalization that young'in are not mature comes from the fact that majority of young'ins are in fact not mature enough to manage a proper business no matter how mature they think they are...

Since there is no section in a job application that lets you check off or test your level of maturity... and since there seems to be a very high relation in between age and maturity... it has become a generalization.

I agree with you there, that age shouldn't matter but we have no way of figuring out how mature a person is... :(

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I'm a mature person at 19 - I still have my goofy side, but I don't show it to people that I do business with unless they've shown me a goofy side of them and that just lets me know that I don't have to act completely professional in front of them all the time ;)

You've got some duplicity going on there.... 20-21 or 21-25 - what do 21 year old people do (same question for all the others)

You should have put XX-20, then start 1 above... 21-XX - so you don't have duplicates...

Anyway, sorry for being anal... :)

24 here.

Originally posted by beley
You've got some duplicity going on there.... 20-21 or 21-25 - what do 21 year old people do (same question for all the others)

You should have put XX-20, then start 1 above... 21-XX - so you don't have duplicates...

Anyway, sorry for being anal... :)

LOL, some people like to pick apart even the most meaningless of details. :)

Anyway, my reasoning for not doing something like 18-21 and 22-25 or whatever, was because that would leave out anyone who's 21.5 years old. :) IOW, I was using the exclusive method.
Peter

Prime Years = 25 to 30. I'm in my prime? Heaven forbid when I pass 30... :)

I'm 27. So, mwatkins and Monte, you guys invented the Internet and not our good buddy Al Gore? :D

Hey Alpha, if you live anywhere near Canada, you don't have to wait until you're 21 to go to the bar or stip clubs. Legal age there is 19.

I didnt think we would see so many 40+ yr olds respond to this thread, you old farts :) . I recently turned 26 .

I am 24

Im 21, so does that make me a Youngster or a Young Adult? Appears I am both :D

Ive been on the net since I was 16. Got my first computer then, even had to get a loan to get it, and it crashed on me 2 months later :angry: Havent had the fondest feeling for computers since then. But hey, I work from home because of them :)

I know Timmys age...35 as Im sure hell claim. :)

In response to the maturity vs age comments stated before, I've also noticed a certain level of buttholeness to people over 30. Then again, you can't generalize now can you? Its best to treat each experience differently - or you can end up missing out on something regardless of your preferrable age group.

Well I still like to live by the rule that you are only as old as the person you are feeling:D

I married a younger woman and so I feel 10 years younger . ;)

BTW, who voted over 40?

I know someone whos over 80 in this forum, just ask SWR :rolleyes:

29 here (or 25 if the person I feel counts)

Prime Years does sound kind of nice. :)

Greg Moore

Originally posted by Jag
I didnt think we would see so many 40+ yr olds respond to this thread, you old farts :)

Excuse me. At 48, I'm not an old fart. Matter of fact, people tell me that I don't look a day older than 32... of course I haven't got carded in over 10 years either.

My past experience in the computer industry includes:
1. running a perforator & reading 8-bit keypunch tape;
2. programming modified assembly language;
3. working on a DEC PDP-11, software and hardware;
4. working with Sun and Apollo workstations using Unix C;
5. working with even/odd parity connections, and those slow baud rates back in the 80's.
6. I also used to demo and sell some of the above equipment at trade shows
most all of the above I've forgotten. It was so long ago.

I've been on the internet since 1997. My internet experience includes:
1. writing HTML since 1997
2. writing Javascript since 1999
3. writing Perl since 1999
4. first website in 1998 (a music site)
5. started 3 discussion groups

PeterTDavis: Huh? 21-1/2 would be 21. I think the poll is flawed. Why does it stop at 40. It should have 41-50, 51-60, 61-70, 71-80, SoftwareRevue's age and Over. :) You can tell the poll was written from a youngun's perspective. Most over 40 year-old's don't consider themselves over-the-hill.

Slabhost: I enjoyed your post. I think I was in the 7th grade when Kennedy died.

Does anyone remember the Quip machine that was out way before the FAX was even thought of?

Women almost never say their ages......... hehehe.

Jessica ;)

Morning.
Im 18 i started oh way back when i was 17 LOL

I'm 43 and I still haven't worked out what I want to be when I grow up :)

I'm 22, 23 this month! :D

Think I'm going to have a beer for each year! That's a whole lot of drinking :stickout wonder if I'll make the 23rd pint?

Originally posted by tazd9t9
Morning.
Im 18 i started oh way back when i was 17 LOL

Gee! No wonder I feel like I'm talking to a bunch of kids at WHT. Of course, to me, anyone under 35 is a kid.

31 But feel like 61. Oooh... My back, the grey hair. Blame: half on kids and wife ;) and the other half on keeping the servers running.

:D

Hmm.. Funny how theres not many people in my age group :(

Originally posted by Monte


I married a younger woman and so I feel 10 years younger . ;)

And she married an older man. So she will always feel 10 years younger. :laugh:

hehehe

LOL, I guess I should have added another option on the poll, perhaps 'Pat Buchannan' that way we could debate over whether the hanging chads really counted or not? Anyway, I didn't mean to offend any of the older folks. I actually expected more response from the young guys, but it looks like a few of them are starting to reply. I guess just us older guys are up late. Youngsters were all sleeping when I posted this. :)

I am an "old man" at 20.

Originally posted by chrisb
Matter of fact, people tell me that I don't look a day older than 32... of course I haven't got carded in over 10 years either.I haven't been carded for about a year now.. which is pretty bad. I'll be 22 soon, however I think people see me as much older. :eek: I feel older.. about 30, the late nights are catching up to me. Oh to be 18 again.. those were the good old care free times. :D

Originally posted by chrisb


Gee! No wonder I feel like I'm talking to a bunch of kids at WHT. Of course, to me, anyone under 35 is a kid.

Tell my 58 year old webhosting partner that :D

I respect older (40+) people in the industry, because back then you actually had to know something about computers to become a good programmer (imagine that). Now a day everyone is "programmer." LOL

1 - I believe they can be, but, yes, the majority probably cannot handle the task.

2 - Maturity is pretty apparent in an interview. There is more to getting a job than just an application!

3 - Maturity is difficult to measure in a webhost... it is not measured how they answer a simple support request, but how they respond to difficult situations.

4 - Interesting. I wouldn't get goofy when corrosponding with a customer, it is the professionalism that my customers like. That is just me though...

Originally posted by alpha


1 - The generalization that young'in are not mature comes from the fact that majority of young'ins are in fact not mature enough to manage a proper business no matter how mature they think they are...

2 - Since there is no section in a job application that lets you check off or test your level of maturity... and since there seems to be a very high relation in between age and maturity... it has become a generalization.

3 - I agree with you there, that age shouldn't matter but we have no way of figuring out how mature a person is... :(

4 - Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I'm a mature person at 19 - I still have my goofy side, but I don't show it to people that I do business with unless they've shown me a goofy side of them and that just lets me know that I don't have to act completely professional in front of them all the time ;)

Who's complaining about being old? I'm 67 and still going strong.

Been computing since they came out with the Apple II. Had an internet presence (web site) for about 7 years and have been involved in marketing on the internet for 3 years.

My experience has evolved from novice programmer (basic language), to dBase, then to computer graphics and finally a short stint as a Systems Administartor.

How am I doing?

Originally posted by wileyfox
Who's complaining about being old? I'm 67 and still going strong.

Been computing since they came out with the Apple II. Had an internet presence (web site) for about 7 years and have been involved in marketing on the internet for 3 years.

My experience has evolved from novice programmer (basic language), to dBase, then to computer graphics and finally a short stint as a Systems Administartor.

How am I doing?

Welcome to the group! We need some more "mature" members. Wow! I'm impressed with all that you have accomplished. I didn't work on Apple II; but I worked on the Apple Lisa.

I don't really think Peter's poll was to insult us older ones; I was just joking with him. Sometimes I just don't feel like adding a smiley.

I'll be 49 next month, and I can hardly wait until I get my Senior Discount. :)

17 almost 18
been online since i was 14 and making money since i was 16.
yeah, that's about it.

I'm 30 so which category is that. ;)

35, but hardly "over the hill" though... LOL.
Glenn

Aussie Bob is 33 going on 21 :D

Originally posted by NexDog
I'm 30 so which category is that. ;)

Puberty? :)

Originally posted by chrisb


Excuse me. At 48, I'm not an old fart. Matter of fact, people tell me that I don't look a day older than 32... of course I haven't got carded in over 10 years either.


Geez, dont take offense... I was making a joke! Or does sense of humor go with old age? :D darn , there I go again.

I find it quite refreshing to see as many mature people visiting this board. Reading through it day to day I generally get a different impression on the demographics being represented.

I am still very young yet and I am just getting to the point where I am comfortable with people knowing my age. I have been motivated to build businesses since I was really young, first starting a lawn maintenance/mowing partnership when I was 12. I got into computers at age 13 by picking up a book on QBasic from the library and I have never stopped since. When I was first getting my web business launched with shareware and then later web hosting I was only 16 and I avoided talking with people on the phone or anything that would show off my young age. I had the impression that people would choose to avoid doing business with me based on a vague impression of “teenagers” and not the merits of my products/service. I have had many good mentors who have helped me over the years, not only helping me grow my business operations, but maybe more importantly, growing my own personal maturity. I just get to look forward to each new day with excitement about what new things I can learn and experience!

I tip my hat to the adult members here and I hope you might be helping out that squirly kid next door who is convinced that he can do “the impossible.”

Best regards,
Frank Rietta

Originally posted by Jag


Geez, dont take offense... I was making a joke! Or does sense of humor go with old age? :D darn , there I go again.

:)

I'm 24 this September :)
Learnt Pascal, Assembler, C, C++, Modula/2 at college and HTML/PHP at home :)

Got into webhosting in December 2000 offering free hosting to GamePlay/WirePlay league sites.

Now I am about to open it up (been offering hosting to people who ask) to the world :)

James

Originally posted by WildWayz

Learnt Pascal
James
You may want to learn English next. :)

;)

Actually, if I was writing a proper letter then I would make sure my grammer was a lot better :)

Toppled with the fact I typed the above when I had just woken up - I would say that was pretty good going ;)

James

Originally posted by WildWayz
;)

Actually, if I was writing a proper letter then I would make sure my grammer was a lot better :)

Toppled with the fact I typed the above when I had just woken up - I would say that was pretty good going ;)

James

Sorry, James. I couldn't resist. Just joking with ya.

No problems m8 - saw the irony in it ;)

James

24 :bawling:

It is funny how many of us started on Apples.

In the 7th grade I took a morning class to learn Basic programming on their Apple II's.

I had an Apple IIe at home and later upgraded to an Apple IIc which got me thru my first couple years in college. :D LOL! That was back when you were "lucky" to have a typewriter and obscenely "blessed" to have a computer.

Then they came out with the Apple Classic (the version that was the original, not yet a classic) and the Mac II? was it? I remember when those were the rage too. LOL

I still have that old Apple IIc in my parents' attic, I should probably haul it out and display it in my curio cabinet in the living room... it is a collectors item, isn't it?!


:D Bailey

I'm 18 and I started on an apple computer(macintosh performa 6200 series). About a year later I got a PC and said goodbye to apple!

-Graham

I AM 50. Using computers since the Commodore VIC20 and 64. Now thats 1982 for you. Cut my teeth on BBc Micro and Microbee. :D

MAX POWER :homer:


----------------------------------
COMPUTERS CAN DO THAT?
I.T Solutions and Web Hosting!
----------------------------------------

Cut my teeth on a sliderule.
Old enough to know that you do not need to know!

26

I was growing up some where between John F Kennedy's assasination and President Nixon's Watergate. Any guesses? LOL! My mom worked for NCR when the only computers you used would fill a room from floor to ceiling.

26 as well...

21.5 here.

Macintosh LC III = what dreams are made of.
Definitely.

Next step was a Performa 6115 (powerpc 601 CPU)
Nothing but top quality goods.

Hypercard / Hyperstudio for Mac - ring any bells?

Ah....... memories.........

Originally posted by phpjames
I know Timmys age...35 as Im sure hell claim. :)

ROFL

Originally posted by clio
17 almost 18
been online since i was 14 and making money since i was 16.
yeah, that's about it.

Clio you forgot the huge student loans ;)

14 here...

Originally posted by chrisb


Gee! No wonder I feel like I'm talking to a bunch of kids at WHT. Of course, to me, anyone under 35 is a kid.

Looks like my parents just made it to the adult stage... they're both 35 :).

I'm 18 years old. I've had the Internet for >7 years (back in the days when AU$5 per hour was cheap) and created my first website many years ago with Geocities back when they were a small company where the directors would frequent the forums and respond to support email personally.

Before the Internet there were BBSs that I would frequently connect to, and of course my own one that I ran for several years (until the daily callers dropped from >50 to a mere 5 ot 6 and I decided to shut it down).

--Shaun

13 year old entrepreneur!:)

I'm older than my teeth and younger than my tongue. :)

Actually, I'm 25 going on anywhere between 3 and a really old man depending on who you ask. But to me, age is a number. Youth is a state of mind. I've seen people my age that act really old and 81-year-old men who were still schlepping boxes around warehouses six days a week. So to me you're only as old as you feel. Now could someone please pass the Metamucil?

I'm 20. Got my first Tandy 1000k in 87 (I believe); I still miss those 5.0 floppy disk console games!

I first got online in 93 or 94 with a 9600bps modem. I started programming when I was 13. I started hosting last year but I have dealt with it for years before has a hostee.

I am not ashamed of my age. I know older people who act younger than me and I know younger people than me who act older.

I am 23 "kids" and i have nothing to write about. One thing is sure is that the older guys are cool about their age while the younger guys are saying how long they have been around, making money, how young they started off and yada yada yada.

Hellow?!!It's the internet?! no one sees you?! and if you think you are making a point here, i feel sorry for you(kid).

speaking of old..this is an old thread you digged up :stickout:

thread began on: 07-04-2002 04:21 PM

Originally posted by SeeMe
I am 23 "kids" and i have nothing to write about. One thing is sure is that the older guys are cool about their age while the younger guys are saying how long they have been around, making money, how young they started off and yada yada yada.

Hellow?!!It's the internet?! no one sees you?! and if you think you are making a point here, i feel sorry for you(kid).

Exactly! No one can see you so how do we know you're not an 11 year old on aol trying to be cool infront of your friends (or even myself)?! We don't. Others stated how they came about so some of the rest followed. I don't think it has anything to do with "trying to be cool"; this is the internet. You'll rarely (if ever) meet anyone off it so that whole "lets be cool online" stuff never seemed to make much sense to me ...

I'm 34 and you can always check how much time you have left here:
http://www.deathclock.com/
I have 1,234,692,705 seconds and counting left!

im a "child host" but I'm not a host.. yet

Oh well age doesnt matter to me

Originally posted by insaneraptor
Oh well age doesnt matter to me
Until you get older. :D

24 earth years.
1.1 intergalactic optimarius octoyears.

Looks like i am of the majority of users who voted :)

I'm 20 next year. Currently at University doing a Computing and IT Degree which is really good! Doing a lot of business and management modules which come in very handy :)

LOL. Was that supposed to be a joke? :P

Originally posted by Vinh
12

At 26 I don't feel like a kid anymore but I still get called "the kid" by other business owners in my area.

42, but I still get carded buying cigarettes! :D

:eek: the Big 30

I'm under 18, but I don't manage every aspect of the business - I just deal with sales and some support, not financial and other larger issues. Anyway, you can ask anybody who has bought a server through me about my maturity (although they probably couldn't tell that I'm under 18).

I'm not ready to manage a web host business full time, but I do own and manage my own disc jockey company.

- Matt

Originally posted by MAX POWER
Cut my teeth on BBc Micro

I'm 36 and I started out on a BBC Micro too :)

Scary amount of "Child-Host" votes!!

I doubt it's very accurate

Weill with a lot of the posts i see here i think it should be higher.

(3 x 7 / 3) x (7 x 7 x 7 x 3 / 7 x 7 x 7 x 3) + 14 = My Age

Guess????

hey vinh i'm 12 too!

I'm 12 too!


ForumsAddict:
(3 x 7 / 3) x (7 x 7 x 7 x 3 / 7 x 7 x 7 x 3) + 14 = My Age

Guess????

The answer is 21!

Originally posted by Aussie Bob
Aussie Bob is 33 going on 21 :D

Really? ...Seriously? ;)

I'm 28. :D

.. Deathclock.com isn't loading for me.. I take that as a -REALLY- bad sign :(

It would be interesting to see a graph that mapped out both age and gender of web hosts.

I get people who communicate with me via email or my personal site who are rather surprised when they learn that I'm female.

LOL. No offense, but I always thought of you as a male. :blush:

So what is it that attracts so many < 18 people to these forums! :(

Originally posted by flitcher
LOL. No offense, but I always thought of you as a male. :blush:

*smirk*

Just out of curiosity, flitcher, (and anyone else who held this opinion) what made you think I was male? I don't take any offense, it's an honest enough mistake. There's not a whole lot of clues in a username like "living_media", and even the name "Lesli" spelt the way I do can be kind of ambiguous.

Uh-Matt, I'm only guessing, but some of the factors that may attract so many under-18 posters to WHT are:

* active forums, with as much socialising as "business" going on
* huge member base - doesn't feel as exclusionary as some of the other forums, or easy to join existing cliques. Other hosting forums aren't really exclusionary or cliquish either, and everyone is welcomed; but perception is all. These forums are constantly and heavily active.
* ability to get free / sponsored hosting, more so than at other hosting forums: hostingchat, talkhosting, et cetera

I'm just guessing on these factors...but it would be interesting to run an experiment: ban requests or offers of free or sponsored hosting for three to six months and see how, or if, activity tapers off.

It could also be that the other fora have as many under-18-year-old-members, percentage-wise, as does WHT. Just that since they aren't as active, and since there is no opportunity to get free hosting, they're not as easy to spot.

I'm about to turn 15 in a couple months... wow I am getting old :stickout: :rolleyes:

Oh crap, I wasted my 1000th post on this :(

I'm 21. Been on the net since 14, web design since 15, hosting since 19.

I am 28, almost all of our staff are inbetween 25~32

Originally posted by ForumsAddict
(3 x 7 / 3) x (7 x 7 x 7 x 3 / 7 x 7 x 7 x 3) + 14 = My Age

Guess????

Wow.. you are by far the oldest person here.. or anywhere I'd bet

151277 years old!

Order of operations is a killer. :)

i am 17

Age shouldn't matter, maturity should. Too bad that's not how the world works.

Right there, I am 16, an unable to take a course in programming as they will only allow people of ages 18 and above to take the course, don't know why, I can code php better than many other people, so going onto VB, or C/C++ shouldn't mean i have to be 18.

I know this is off topic but...

BMHost_com I owned your domain name for a while back in 1998 and 1999. I never really did anything with it. I only had it because of my initials (BM). I just thought that was cool when I noticed it in your post.

Originally posted by ViS


Right there, I am 16, an unable to take a course in programming as they will only allow people of ages 18 and above to take the course, don't know why, I can code php better than many other people, so going onto VB, or C/C++ shouldn't mean i have to be 18.

Come to Georgia and there's about two or three technical schools waiting for you. :) They accept at a minimum age of 16.

21 here, online since about 12.

Rode the .com wave and got made redundant at 19. Picked myself up and doing alright now though :)

TheTech,

Where are you in Georgia? I grew up in Georgia before moving here to New Orleans. I lived in Thomasville and Valdosta.

I'm 22, but I find I get along with people in the 30 - late 40's age bracket better than people my own age.

Originally posted by Monte
Well I still like to live by the rule that you are only as old as the person you are feeling:D

I married a younger woman and so I feel 10 years younger . ;)

Personally, I'm 27. My partner is 51. He helps me to feel younger every day. :stickout:

My 19 year old girlfriend, on the other hand, makes me feel old each day. LOL

I'm 29... I will also be turning 29 again on September 29th.

And then 29 the year after that and the year after that and the year... *drones on and on*