ESD And My Amiga's Serial Port

[Super TWiT]

First off, I wanted to say that my Amiga is FINE, no esd damage was done, but I want to know if I should have been more careful. I was using my amiga today and realized that there was some gunk on one of my serial port pins. I then unplugged the computer completely, and took a pair of metal nail clippers and used the scrapper part to get the gunk off. Could I have exposed the computer to static with this? I didn't even think of grounding myself because I wasn't inside the case. Was I lucky or am I being paranoid? (Now that i think about it, I had washed my hands about 15 minutes earlier!)

[Super TWiT]

So I am probably being paranoid?

[Super TWiT]

I didn't clean it on carpet, and I even was barefoot (supposed to ground better) And I live in a humid environment (to top it all off it just rained) How am I taking the same risk everytime I move the machine or plug something in as the pins that connect are insulated?

[Super TWiT]

Apple Hammer I was wondering how the pins in a serial port are incased in metal screen. The space between the pins is plastic. Are you referring to the metal part of the casing on the serial port, and how can you know this is grounded?

[Super TWiT]

The thing is, how much protection should one take? I mean I even read on a website that if you zapped a component, you may NOT EVEN KNOW UNTIL MONTHS LATER! What!? That seems highly unlikely. Also, it seems that components have to be able to withstand some ESD to be sold via the ESDA. I believe external ports have to be more roboust than internal equipment too. (By the way, I think I did touch an I/O pin.)