Talk:Where the Buffalo Roam (webcomic)

Notes

Note I've updated the banner above and made some article edits. A quick trawl through alt.comics.buffalo-roam yields:

• oldest message Google has is Apr 14 1992; and Herb announces the start of posting (so not 1991)
  • Subject: Daily comic strip comming to alt.comics.buffalo-roam
• a December 1992 post gives ISBN:0-9627570-0-4 for the book by Hans Bjordahl
• between May and October 1992 the group seemed relatively quiet and by early 1993 it appeared no new comics were being posted

-Wikianon 18:24, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

Hans Bordahl says: "In 1991, Where the Buffalo Roam become the Internet's first regularly updated comic strip, when it was scanned and posted daily to its own USENET newsgroup..." --Dragonfiend 04:09, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

Hmmm, and Hans *is* the author. I have emailed Hans now for clarification, giving both my email address and Talk page as means of reply. There may have been "posts" via other newsgroups or via ftp, or maybe in a different image format. I got 1992 from this google groups archive of the post from Herb M. Morreale then of XOR Network Engineering:

Newsgroups: alt.config, alt.comics.buffalo-roam, rec.arts.comics
Followup-To: ...edited out...
From: ...edited out... (Herb Morreale)
Date: 14 Apr 92 00:44:28 GMT
Local: Tues, Apr 14 1992 1:44 am
Subject: Daily comic strip comming to alt.comics.buffalo-roam
About six months ago I was sitting around thinking about all the neat
things the net had to offer.  You know, the usual stuff about "where is
this whole things was going to be in 20 years?", and "I wonder if we
will ever be able to shop on-line and transfer money directly", and
"maybe we will be voting for the president on-line soon." While
considering these types of things, I usually end up thinking about
having the morning paper pop up in a window for me every day when I sit
down with my cup of coffee.  Clarinet is now offering the UPI wire in
USENET format, so some of the "morning paper" is already available
(though at a price).  So what's missing?  Not just Dear Abby, but the
Comics!

"What a great idea!", I thought.  "My friends and I will draw a comic
strip and make it available to everyone on the net".  Wrong.  Coming up
with funny ideas, not to mention just drawing the darn thing is prett
tough.  So there is lay, an interesting idea with no one able to make
it happen.  A sad, sad sight.

Then it hit me.  Find some one else who already knows how to draw and
might even have a clue as how to be funny.  You know, pass the buck.
So after a while, I happened to run into Hans Bjordahl in front of
"Falafal Man" in the food court at the local mall (I was ordering a
Gyros and a side of Falafal Balls).  Hans is the brains behind "Where
the Buffalo Roam", one of the most popular strips in the University of
Colorado's daily paper (and now syndicated to Stanford, and some of the
Florida Universities).  I told him all about the net, and he said
"wow".

Starting Wednesday, April 15 (something good had to happen on that
day), XOR Network Engineering will start bringing you "Where the
Buffalo Roam" on a daily basis.  XOR Network Engineering is based in
Boulder Colorado and interested in seeing the net used in "visionary"
ways.  If this proves to be a popular idea, XOR will try to get more
strips available as soon as possible (within a week).

Starting Wednesday, "Where the Buffalo Roam" will be distributed in
alt.comics.buffalo-roam in gif and postscript.  All feedback is
welcome, but I hope the group does not get swamped in flames and
noise.  If it does, it is likely that this idea will be lost among all
the garbage.  Once the strips begin to get posted, you can send
comments to directly to the the creater himself (h...@xor.com).

So there is the answer to the perennial first question, "What is this
group?"  All of us at XOR including Hans are really excited about this
idea.  The fun begins Wednesday!

Herb M. Morreale
XOR Network Engingeering
Boulder, CO.   

... I removed the telephone number and email address -Wikianon 06:43, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

Difference between "online service" and "Internet"

The Internet is a specific network, on which the World Wide Web is provided. CompuServe and other online services did not initially use it, and so can be considered separate from it. Therefore this can still be called the first known Internet comic strip, as mentioned in various published reliable sources. GreenReaper (talk) 03:15, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

I just came here to discuss that. Since you agree, I'm going to go ahead and change it. Phasma Felis (talk) 08:38, 16 November 2010 (UTC)