The Good ol' days

[builder22]

Remember I had a dual lnb fitted to the sky dish for internet access, but only for downloads, still needed to use the ISDN or dial up for the upload side

was almost 2010 before the exchange was upgraded for broadband

 

[Lysander]

The Internet has certainly not been improved by Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Agreed, and I would go further to say that the biggest problem with social media is that we, as a species, were not ready or expecting to see the reflection in the mirror that was held up to us. We were not ready to see just how shameless, arrogant, insecure and desperate we are and that this insecurity and shamelessness would then be exploited and monetised, and that we would then buy into that exploitation and encourage it for the very same reasons.

The 2010s was a hugely damaging decade with regard to social media influence, mostly because of Instagram. I hate to think of the amount of people who cut off their body parts - i.e. paid money to do so - just so they could include themselves in the latest social media fad movements. It's truly terrible. Zuckerberg is an awful, awful person, but if he hadn't started the platform(s), someone else would have done. He just got there first.

 

[Chrisc]

If you grew up in the '70s or '80s, it was a great time to be alive from the point of view of the ascendancy of digital technologies. You were able to experience home computing and the tech-crazy '80s, as well as the offline life before the 1990s came alone, as did the internet and mobile phones AND you were able to experience the internet in all its anarchy before tighter regulation came along in the 2010s. No-one born from the 1990s onwards will have been able to experience life offline or away from the clutches of the digital megacorporations.

For instance, just think of p2p clients like Kazaa, Limewire and eMule, and how the record industry was in panic for years because of Rapidshare and Mediafire downloads. They literally had no idea what to do for years about the downloading. It was a total free-for-all.

Exactly! I was born in 1987, and I still remember my very first interaction with another person over a computer. I was playing on my dads mates pc playing 'Wargasm' and I genuinely could not believe I could type something and the person on the other end would see it in real time. Not many people will remember their first time like that, however i remember the very first thing i typed and it was 'Come get some'

I was in my early teens when Kazaa and limewire were about, I remember my dad coming home from working away and id pretty much let our PC get riddled with aids from the likes of Limewire.

 

[Chrisc]

The Internet has certainly not been improved by Twitter, Facebook, etc.

The problem is, facebook is like its very own internet. Why go to a website when there will be a facebook page?

 

[almoststew1990]

Beebo and Hi5 were pretty fun. Met a good few people on there that I was friends with for a while. Other than that I chatted to my friends on MSN messenger.

IGN was also still pretty good at this time (2002 to 2006)

 

[SexyGreyFox]

Which ones did you spend a silly amount of hours scrolling through?

Around 1995 it was Usenet I spent a lot of time on and not for dodgy stuff because it didn't exist for that back then.
Usenet had a lot of different Newsgroups where you could and still can talk on topics you like.
I can remember around the same time realising how powerful the Internet could be because I wasn't quite convinced by it.
My mate was in to collecting pens and he wanted some ink balloons but they cost a bomb so he asked if I could find out anywhere cheaper.
On Usenet I found a Newsgroup called alt.collecting.pensandpencils and placed a question.
Within hours there were 7 replies from around the World but one bloke who made his own lived 10 miles from my mate and eventually they got together and made baby ink balloons.

 

[Resident]

I remember the precursor to MSN's popularity, ICQ !

 

[SixTwoSix]

irc, ICQ and AOL chat rooms late 90's/early 00's - dropping into a chat room, asking ASL and meeting up with all manner of questionable women.

Clock watching for when BT lower rate calls kicked in, getting £200+ quarterly phone bills occasionally, then getting a 'hacked' number for Madasafish dialup that was free 24/7.

 

[Vauxmad]

Robs Celebs

My god its full of stars

 

[adam cool dude]

StickDeath.com.

Also lol at robs celebs.

 

[robgmun]

The social media aspect has ruined the internet. It was great until facebook started and then it was a slide downwards since

 

[Nasher]

Internet went to **** when non-geeks and salesmen rolled in. Then took over all the big games companies/sites.

 

[UTmaniac]

If it wasn't Unreal Tournament, it was Microsoft Gaming Zone.

Welcome... To AO Hell.

 

[Smokey Deza]

Wireplay, mostly UT99 sub forum. Bummer the archives are gone as some of those threads were hilarious.

 

[Diddums]

 

[Haggisman]

Exactly! I was born in 1987, and I still remember my very first interaction with another person over a computer. I was playing on my dads mates pc playing 'Wargasm' and I genuinely could not believe I could type something and the person on the other end would see it in real time. Not many people will remember their first time like that, however i remember the very first thing i typed and it was 'Come get some'

I was in my early teens when Kazaa and limewire were about, I remember my dad coming home from working away and id pretty much let our PC get riddled with aids from the likes of Limewire.

I remember something similar, playing UO at the age of 14, got talking to some random guys when it suddenly just clicked - holy crap I'm playing a game with some random people I've never met before half way across the world! My previous experience of multiplayer gaming had been limited to split screen console gaming, dialing my mates phone numbers and praying my or their parents wouldn't try to make a call, or spending 3 hours running parallel or serial cables between a couple of PCs, so this was on a whole new level; now we just take it for granted.

Also eBay when it was just people selling off their old stuff and you could get some serious bargains (or make some decent money)!

Agree that Facebook et al have spoiled it for us nerds

 

[jsmoke]

I could go back to 1994 though I can barely remember the details now much tbh. It started with eurdora mail at uni. I think I got a pc at home in about 1999. Sites were Geocities, Lycos tripod, friends reunited, live journal, GameSpot, irc, areyoufearless, Ringo, hotmail, vbforums, AOL and MSN messenger(asl?), Chatrooms, yahoo groups, then came along all the Bebo, Facebook, Twitter etc.

I'm sure 1998-2005 were fun days before the masses arrived.

 

[Uther]

I think I was actually happier pre internet, amazing though it is.

 

[Malevolence]

I put on my robe and wizard hat.

 

[Thekwango]

rotten.com

steakandcheese.com
strangeland.com
some truly horrible stuff to be seen but also some utterly hilarious ones too.