Hell, by 2016, reddit had already gone to shit. So certainly every mainstream user was already on Facebook and Twitter and IG and whatever other shit service. YouTube.
I think the transition really happened between 2005 and 2010.
Back in mah day as a teen in 1999 who didn't have parent supervision, I went on the internet and learned HTML to update my geocities page with more pictures of anime and hotties.
I downloaded 4 songs and it took me 10 minutes a piece, and one of them ended in .exe.
I played web games that didn't know how to make money so sometimes they'd beg people to give them money or put banner ads all over the place.
The I found some cool software on Usenet. It was broken in 80 rar files (I am still testrunning winrar), and when I unzipped it, it was corrupted.
Then I reached out to my AIM/ICQ to chat with a 22-yo man pretending to be a teenager and cyber'd with them. But before I got to anything good, my mom picks up the phone and my connection dropped.
To use the internet was an intentional act. You had to check the time to make sure you weren't gonna hit some long distance charges, login, and wait for it to connect.
YouveGotMail.wav
You received a dancing baby gif in your inbox from a friend.
Four kids, one computer. The internet was America Online and had parental locks that disabled it after 10pm or so.
My siblings and I had to schedule when we'd get to use the internet.
Funny thing, MSN Messenger didn't obey AOL's timers. For a while I was able to stay online late chatting with friends, even after AOL cut me off. It worked until my mom got up to pee at midnight one night and caught me. She asked who I could possibly be talking to so late, and I had to remind her that the internet is global and it was noon for Australians.
You can't tell me anything about Altavista because I was there back in the day, and there were some more like it, but so are today that have no ads, privacy focus, ethical focus, etc.
The best choice is not always the most popular.
Google had no ads until SEO and Google Adsense became a thing but the whole internet was full of websites running pop-ups like crazy, and Flash ads that were so dangerous for any machine.
16 Comments
CosmoNova@lemmy.world · 42 pts · 201d
You could make the former 2006 and the latter 2016 and it would still work. Things changed really fast and some time ago already. It‘s sad.
jaybone@lemmy.zip · 12 pts · 201d
Hell, by 2016, reddit had already gone to shit. So certainly every mainstream user was already on Facebook and Twitter and IG and whatever other shit service. YouTube.
I think the transition really happened between 2005 and 2010.
bytesonbike@discuss.online · 37 pts · 201d
Back in mah day as a teen in 1999 who didn't have parent supervision, I went on the internet and learned HTML to update my geocities page with more pictures of anime and hotties.
I downloaded 4 songs and it took me 10 minutes a piece, and one of them ended in .exe.
I played web games that didn't know how to make money so sometimes they'd beg people to give them money or put banner ads all over the place.
The I found some cool software on Usenet. It was broken in 80 rar files (I am still testrunning winrar), and when I unzipped it, it was corrupted.
Then I reached out to my AIM/ICQ to chat with a 22-yo man pretending to be a teenager and cyber'd with them. But before I got to anything good, my mom picks up the phone and my connection dropped.
FishFace@piefed.social · 4 pts · 201d
Oh god, don't stop
Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 6 pts · 201d
To use the internet was an intentional act. You had to check the time to make sure you weren't gonna hit some long distance charges, login, and wait for it to connect.
YouveGotMail.wav
You received a dancing baby gif in your inbox from a friend.
Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 200d
Four kids, one computer. The internet was America Online and had parental locks that disabled it after 10pm or so.
My siblings and I had to schedule when we'd get to use the internet.
Funny thing, MSN Messenger didn't obey AOL's timers. For a while I was able to stay online late chatting with friends, even after AOL cut me off. It worked until my mom got up to pee at midnight one night and caught me. She asked who I could possibly be talking to so late, and I had to remind her that the internet is global and it was noon for Australians.
whotookkarl@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 200d
This post smells of second hand smoke and downloaded a copy of Encarta onto my computer that now has a turbo button
SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml · 18 pts · 201d
Also,
lugal@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 11 pts · 201d
Not to forget:
expatriado@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 201d
started visual astronomy as a hobby to escape earthly reality
Echolynx@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 201d
Thank goodness for SpaceEngine.
allriledup@piefed.blahaj.zone · 6 pts · 201d
Fortunafors@lemmy.world · -2 pts · 201d
That's just nostalgia, 90s internet was full of ads too
allriledup@piefed.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 201d
1984@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 200d
You may be interested in why Google became so popular compared to alta vista, the dominant search engine for a while.
No ads and just a clean fast loading search page. So of course, ironic that its now a billion dollar company based on ads.
Fortunafors@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 198d
You can't tell me anything about Altavista because I was there back in the day, and there were some more like it, but so are today that have no ads, privacy focus, ethical focus, etc.
The best choice is not always the most popular.
Google had no ads until SEO and Google Adsense became a thing but the whole internet was full of websites running pop-ups like crazy, and Flash ads that were so dangerous for any machine.
Bane_Killgrind@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 201d
Today I went to a shop, ordered a new kitchen table and bought a few other things. It felt really good to interact with the shopkeeps.
DylanMc6@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 0 pts · 200d
Is that Elliot Page?