Unironically comfy. It was an adventure. A slow as balls adventure, but an adventure nonetheless.
Search engines weren't the best, so you either learned addresses from someone else, or you found them yourself by typing random shit in. The direct consequence of this, was that you couldn't spoil the broth yet. Everything that was good then, was good because it could never succumb to overexposure. And the combination of the read-only and DIY atmosphere resulted in tons of pages being made to inform users, not drain their brains; you'd learn and find all kinds of cool shit just by surfing the web.
Functionally? Not even close. In terms of quality? 7/10 times, yes. But the world is different now, there's almost an expectation of instant gratification- instead of the occasional frustrated string of curses from the lone nerd who's using a computer on a Friday night.
There are sites that now only exist in my memory. They were never archived by anyone who would've openly shared that data, provided they're even still alive. Think about that.
Connor Baker
Dude sent me your hotmail account so we can gather some people for quake
You realize now that you could disable the modem speaker?
Isaac Baker
Slow as fuck and lacking the wealth of content today, but it felt a lot more honest. I always find it odd how kids today are like "you're just posting this stupid shit for likes and upvotes and seens" when like... Two decades of internet taught us that you don't need a score or a like to post stuff, people were posting the most bizarre shit just to share it, just to show the world, just to connect. I still think people do it, and yes I do think some narcissists post just for attention and all that shit, but I still think people will forever and eternally do weird or funny or creative things and just want to show it to the next person for no other reason than we're human. That's my favorite lesson from being on the internet since AOL 3.1
Evan Walker
>waiting up to 30-40 seconds to load a webpage just like now
>swearing at useless pics on the webpages just like now
>swearing at outdated information and lots of useless blabbering just like now
Gabriel Nguyen
It occurred to me that we don't even surf the web anymore. We sit on the beach and wait for the tide to come in.
And we never leave the beach.
Jaxson Green
very slow, less censorship, very similar to todays derp web. search engines almost nonexistent, porn was mostly pics, people dreamed of T1 connections, AOL chatrooms were the hotness. Sites weren't bloated with ads and tracking and javascript. It was a beautiful time
Austin Jackson
In some ways it was a lot better. Yes, speeds were slower and it took ages for pages to load, but it was a lot less corporate, with more websites run by amateurs and hobbyists just sharing knowledge, and not out to sell you stuff. There was no facebook, no instagram, no tiktok. Most people on the internet were nerds. It wasn't so mainstream. Messageboards were still thriving.
If you want to experience it again, i2p is basically the same. i2p is slow as fuck since it's all decentralized and there's barely any search engine at all so you have to find your way around by yourself.
Jayden Moore
Had no idea...I was like 15 and it was new. So muffling it was my fix. Hahaha.
But if anyone picked up the phone...instant disconnect.
