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When I use the phrase Before Times I may sound a bit melodramatic!

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, a bona fide 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 more "IRL" topics have a sun next to them.

Entries appearing in pale pink links are yet to be posted...

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.