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When I use the phrase Before Times I may sound a bit melodramatic, don't I?
This is on purpose. These memories of a (supposedly) simpler time capture the unique (often heavily romanticized, yes) atmosphere we experienced back then. I also actually enjoy how egregious it sounds, as a sort of parody of the over-romanticization of the past, and a warning to not take such narratives very seriously.
It’s also a reference to the sort of phrasing you’d see in the plethora of dystopian novels my generation read over the years, to the sense that the world is indeed sliding towards a sort of terrible dystopia, too. With that, of course, comes the realization that real life is rarely as navigable as those novels, and there’s never a Katniss or whoever to fix things.
Either way, in this case, it refers to the period of time prior to the Internet and similar technologies really taking full control of society and our daily lives.
This phrase is used jokingly, though, and I embrace how silly it sounds. It’s a bit of a bit. It also isn’t meant to imply that the Information Age itself is the problem, though you must admit social media has disenchanted it somewhat these days. Don’t the confines of social media feel like concrete dystopian walls, lit only by the dim gaslighting (pun intended) of advertisements and flame wars?
I love the internet. Dearly. And it will find a way forward. I do, also, think humanity itself will find a way through, even through things like global warming, microplastics, and vast extinctions we’re causing. A consummate believer in human potential, I remain optimistic for all kinds of reasons. I’m still, after all, kinda a transhumanist of sorts. The next fifty years will be interesting…
These memories feel deeply liminal to me. They represent my strange experiences of growing up on the cusp of the Information Age. Admittedly, my childhood likely wasn’t normal per se, but it was at least interesting. I think these little anecdotes will resonate with the sort of people who are likely to find this site in the first place, though. And, y’know… some of these incidents were rather humorous, or at least interesting in retrospect.
These are marked, as well, based on their subject matter. Articles discussing events primarily taking place on, or relating to, the internet itself, are marked with a crescent moon. Those with only only only very very very slightly more "IRL" topics have a sun next to them.
Entries appearing in pale pink links are yet to be posted, and clicking one of the links right below will bring up only articles in that particular category...
General Digital Lore
This section includes articles with a general scope, but which concern our dear digital past. Many things you'll find here are not glued to one particular era. Some discuss the nature of nostalgia itself without such a focus, and I find that helpful sometimes. I will also include any articles about events or trends that don't fit the other two time periods listed on this page, of course. Some articles included here will be linked from elsewhere. Others are just collections, and collections often span eras...
A Stamp Collection (I'm Proud) 99 pixel wide by 56 pixel tall stamps, originating on Deviantart, became an online phenomenon, and I've started collecting them. Here's the bunches!
Curated Web Lore Join me on a walk through the most fascinating Wikipedia articles documenting internet and web-adjacent lore from the 1990s and 2000s. Updated semi-regularly, and includes a randomizer, as well as a full list.
The End of an Aeon? Can we really divide history (any kind of history) into aeons and eras, and if so, how far does that go? Is it productive to think that way? I plan to share some thoughts on what I'd probably call secular eschatology or aonics.
Midnight on AOL Was there ever a Golden Age of the Internet, and did we, as millennials, experience it? Wait, though... shouldn't we be asking ourselves first what a "Golden Age" would even look like, and if such things even exist?
Y2k
I was unleashed on the web roughly in 1995, but it’s hard to be sure. I spent a lot of time on America Online, when able, and eventually learned rudimentary usage of that ISP’s website builder. I made a little site about dachshunds, and gradually drifted deeper into cyberspace. I wandered through chatrooms, gaming servers, mailing lists, sites panicking about Y2K and other strange things.
These stories took place prior to September 11th, 2001, which is, I must admit, a cultural turning point of sorts, no matter how you view things. Most of them focus on things like making friends online, writing and reading fanfics, and even things like the Millennium Bug. Expect this list to expand, but not as much as other sections.
Domain Scene (2001–2005)
In the Autumn of 2001, I created my first blog using Blogger and Geocities, back when one could connect them. I quickly moved from that to being a “hostee” on someone else’s webspace, eschewing platforms with advertisements. Eventually, I was gifted a domain name (and hosting package) for my sixteenth birthday, and created my own space amongst the burgeoning “scene” of teenagers running blogs, sharing design resources, chatting, and interacting via these sites.
Some parts of this were wholesome, to be sure, but it was nothing like neocities, nor like a lot of the younger sort on here seem to imagine. In particular, there were some cruel moments, too. Anyways, these stories all concern that general time period, up until (roughly) the earliest beginnings of social media and the slow decline of that community.
Chans and Then Some
While social media changed everything about the internet, it didn't immediately supplant the entire web, as you likely realize. 4chan and related sites were a large part of my online experience fifteen years ago. Most people will now argue that the chans have been a net negative influence for the internet as a whole.
They might be right, but they'd be ignoring just how extremely pervasive and diverse their influence has been, some of which I'm writing about here. I also just want to reminisce a bit about what those sites used to be like, the positives and negatives, and how they changed me and other people, as well as why people outgrow them.