Salon has details on the geeks who saved Usenet, or specifically the archive of 1981-1991 Usenet traffic recently added to Google Groups. Bless them!
The earliest post of mine I've been able to turn up in Google Groups is this one from October 1983, although there should be a few more going back to August. Someone recently credited me with having made the first Usenet post in Esperanto, an awfully geeky distinction, particularly since it consisted of a collection of Esperanto lightbulb jokes! Fortunately a few still earlier messages have turned up.
In other news, some 80's DIY print-media moguls who foreshadowed the web explosion have reappeared with their own weblogs. Mike Gunderloy, the original publisher of the essential zine directory Factsheet Five, is now busy reviewing websites from his farm. And Mark Frauenfelder, co-editor of the late 80's hipster zine Boing Boing, has resurrected the name (but not necessarily the attitude) for his blog.