What even are the Before Times??
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When I use the phrase Before Times I may sound a bit melodramatic; this is on purpose.
It’s 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 many have that the world is indeed sliding towards a sort of fascist cyberpunk dystopia, and such. 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.
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, as I said, and I embrace how silly it sounds. It’s a bit of a bit. It isn’t meant to imply that the Information Age is bad, though you must admit social media has disenchanted it a bit these days. I do think the the Internet, and the World Wide Web, will find a way forward.
I do think we, as a species, will find a way forward, through our current struggles, and even things like global warming. A consummate believer in human potential, I remain optimistic for all kinds of reasons. Still, these memories of a (supposedly) simpler time capture the unique (often heavily romanticized, yes) atmosphere we experienced back then.
Weird and Rare Times
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.
- Stories that relate primarily to events I witnessed online, or events in the news, experiences like that, early memes, etc, are marked with a pink heart.
- Slightly more personal stories more concerned with my daily life back then and some of my experiences navigating it, particularly offline, are marked with a red heart.
- Unfinished (ie, empty) material, or ideas that I am simply serious enough to jot down, is noted in this color, and with a tan heart, as shown.
Y2K (1996-2001)
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.
- Septembers, Eternal and Otherwise Nothing lasts forever, good or bad, right? But what does that mean for the internet? Some musings on everything that has happened since September of 1993, and a cheeky dating system.
- Catfish Violet Riches Catfishing is a major issue these days, and arguably has been since the inception of the Internet. Imagine having the dubious honor of being the first person in your town to catfish someone, though, at the age of ten…
- The Blue Crisis of 2000 We all know that some songs aren’t appropriate for middle school, and it should be relatively clear. No sex, no drugs, but rock and roll is okay, right? Everything changed with the introduction of eurodance…
- Hank Hill, Cartoon Father Figure If you’re so bad at being a father that you can be easily replaced with a cartoon character by a bunch of teenaged fanfic writers, you probably should’ve just chosen not to have kids…
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.
- The Red, White, and Blue Bar Fight of 2001 September 11th changed everything, but it also made America insufferably solemn and patriotic for at least three months. An ontological mystery where life, including homework, revolves around the star-spangled banner.
- Domain Debutante People from many generations remember turning "sweet sixteen," but living in the information age added a special bonus! The gift of a domain name and hosting package probably changed my life forever.
- Demerits by Lissa I somehow managed to both get a detention's worth of demerits and change the computer science class's curriculum, however slightly, all by linking the teacher to Lissa Explains.