"destructive read of a ROM"?

[Gordon JC Pearce]

On Monday 01 October 2007 14:31:15 Richard wrote:
> Over on comp.terminals someone wrote this about the VT100:
>
> 	"The power-on operation does a "destructive" read of the
> 	ROM-based firmware.  After so many power-ups, the ROM becomes
> 	unreadable. This was a design issue at the time - the technology
> 	to fix it did not evolve until the VT200 series."
>
> Is this true?  I've never heard of a ROM being damaged by reading it a
> lot.

A comment like the above would merit an uncharitable response on some of the 
straight-talking, no-nonsense automotive lists I'm on.

Gordon