This had a thread just a few months ago: Setting User-Agent Field? (1996) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25670161 - Jan 2021 (64 comments)

also these- but I'm pretty sure there have been others - maybe someone will find them:

Q: Setting User-Agent Field? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14250473 - May 2017 (1 comment)

Q: Setting User-Agent Field? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1655648 - Sept 2010 (5 comments)

It seems he did succeed in changing the User-Agent.

groups.google.com link (better for your bandwidth): https://groups.google.com/forum/message/raw?msg=comp.lang.ja...

I realize that Google Groups is just a Gateway to Usenet groups, but there is something out of place about seeing the founder of Google posting in Google Groups five years before it existed. The archeology of the internet is strange.

You know what I found really interesting is going back and reading threads about Star Wars before Return of the Jedi. It was fascinating to read the different directions people thought the story would go.

Back when he cared about being "a good net citizen". I wonder what 1996 Larry would think of today's Internet (that he helped shape).

What was the answer though?

Not sure but today it would be...

An essay on why Java is harmful.

A link to some RFC draft that states user agents shouldn’t be changed.

A solution on how to change a user agent in another language/framework

A Mod closes the question as duplicate while linking to how change the UA in PHP.

Nowadays people would just Google for the answer!