image_thumb.pngAn unrelated article lately reminded me of an Internet writing institution I had fun playing with back in the 1990s. I looked it up, and discovered to my surprise that it is still in operation—and recently celebrated its twenty-sixth anniversary, which in Internet years is practically forever. This particular institution is the venerable Internet Oracle.

Otherwise known as “the Usenet Oracle,” since it began its life years before the web, when Usenet was the main way people used the ‘net for discussions, the Internet Oracle is a surprisingly simple idea which provides opportunity for endless amusement. To use it, you email oracle@internetoracle.org with “tell me” or “tellme” in the subject line, and then ask it a question in the body of the email. It will then send that question out anonymously to the next person to ask a question, while at the same time anonymously sending you someone else’s question for you to answer, as humorously as possible, as the Oracle. (You can also have it ask you a question without needing to submit one yourself, by putting “ask me” or “askme” in the subject line instead.)

The Oracle has developed its own running jokes over the years (many of them chronicled in its Wikipedia entry), and it’s a great writing exercise to ask for a question if you feel like writing something funny on a random subject. If your answer is good enough, it might get selected for the periodical “Best of the Internet Oracle” compilations that get posted to rec.humor.oracle and the Oracle web site. For more details, see the Internet Oracle help guide.

It’s kind of amusing to know that a writing institution that old is still in operation. I hope some of our readers will make use of it, since a thing like that works better the more people there are who use it.

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