We were all warned that we must never ever listen to or believe a word of what we read on Wikipedia, because anyone could edit it, and therefore it was all false or something. Still, we eventually learned from experience that this was nonsense, that Wikipedia, while imperfect, did provide a good summary of some things, and had fun with it. I’m sure many of us remember clicking through randomized Wikipedia articles.
It was a wonderful way to discover new topics and learn new things, or going on a wiki walk through a topic that interested us. True, our teachers wouldn’t accept Wikipedia as a source, nor should they have, but we did learn and entertain ourselves! Here, I’ve created a sort of wiki stroll, curating hand-picked pages documenting internet lore specifically.
This focuses only on matters relevant to the older internet, cool lore, experiences we might have forgotten, and nostalgic topics. There’s really no precise cutoff date for the topics of these articles, but they do not include any that are terribly mean-spirited, except a couple cautionary tales (I guess).
Currently, this features around thirty different articles with summaries. If you've got a personal favorite that you'd like added here, send it my way, and, provided it isn't already there or ill-suited, I'll add it! I would really love to expand this list, but not with anything too terrible, and nothing really post-2010.
Full List
- AOL Hometown: Imagine the web as a safe place. Imagine it’s like a neighborhood! Your neighborhood! Come live here! That’s exactly how America Online wanted its users to feel about the World Wide Web back in the 1990s. Pity it didn’t really work out…
- All Your Base: I never played Zero Wing, but apparently it involved some intricate psychological manipulations between warring political factions in space, as you witness in certain animations, and in songs written commemorating the events.
- Badger Badger Badger: An ancient ballad, perhaps memorializing events that are now unremembered, or perhaps foretelling the future. It’s hard to say. If you’ve not heard this, you likely haven’t been around long, now have you?
- Cicada 3301: When interesting puzzles start popping up online, 4chan jumps to solve them, but where will it lead? What ultimately happens if you do solve them, and what’s the point?
- Clair Swire: As the clocks hit 2000, people were already looking for ways to use new technology to vilify and shame women. When a woman’s (alleged) private email goes viral in those early days, the internet learns absolutely nothing from the experience.
- Chuck Norris Facts: Chuck Norris may not be the world’s most moral person these days, but at one point, he was considered quite the bastion of strength. Read how, and why, long paeans were written and posted in his honor in the mid-aughts.
- DotComGuy: Is it possible to spend an entire year stuck at home, living entirely online and subsisting only on what you get delivered? Surely it is now, but was it possible in the year 2000? Believe it or not, someone tried it.
- Dancing Baby: Alleged by some to be the oldest of memes. Probably isn’t, but has an interesting backstory - did you know it was leaked originally, and that the creator found it too disturbing? True. See it here.
- Eternal September: Do you remember the internet? Of course you do. Well, at least… you think you do. You, like me, remember the Eternal September. You don’t remember the summer before that.
- Goodtimes Virus: When a hacker group called the Cult of the Dead Cow spreads rumors about a deadly computer virus in the mid-1990s, everyone believes it for precisely no reason. Fake news and grassroots psyops aren’t a new thing, it seems…
- John Titor: Suppose you were a time traveler with strangely-libertarian leanings, from the mid-21st century, who had landed in the late 1990s. Clearly, you’d want to spend some time chilling with your past self, but also? Why not post online a bit?
- JibJab: Once upon a time, politics were slightly less frightening, and easier to parody. Flash animation was a great way to show just how we felt about all these comical characters paraded before us and then listed on the ballots.
- Leeroy Jenkins: How do you win at World of Warcraft, or at least become a popular meme and well-known paladin? Hint: screaming your own name as a battle cry works really, really well. I’ve tried this in other situations, though, and it doesn’t work.
- I Love Bees: Honeybees are important to the environment, so it’s natural that you’d want to protect them, but why is an artificial intelligence from the future seemingly involved in this, and does it need your help?
- Lonelygirl15: Who is Bree Avery? A melodramatic homeschooled YouTuber who happens to have some kooky parents, or something much… stranger? What does it mean to be “trait positive” and what is the Order?
- Ong’s Hat: Is it possible to cross dimensions with the power of quantum physics and drugs? Probably not, but wouldn’t you like to read about it anyways? An early case of an elaborate online legend that took on a life of its own over the course of decades.
- Project Chanology: What happens when a bunch of early 4channers go up against a New Age cult and (kind of) win? A media feeding frenzy, for one thing, and a lot of misbegotten memes!
- Series of Tubes: We all love the internet. That’s why we’re here. But how does it work? What’s it made of? What’s inside of all this? Certain politicians have been theorizing about the phenomenon for a while…
- Snakes on a Plane: Movies typically garner attention through elaborate marketing campaigns, and always have. Every once in a while, it’s just not necessary because the entire premise is in the title of the film, and, goddamnit, the premise just sells itself, doesn’t it?
- The Beast: A sentient machine therapist’s friend dies in an accident aboard an artificial intelligence-powered boat. The internet begins to investigate, ultimately uncovering a vast conspiracy involving both robots and humans… happening almost a century and a half in the future?!
- The Hamster Dance: Dibidi ba didi dou dou! Di ba didi dou… Didi didldildidldidl houdihoudi dey dou! Dibidi ba didi dou dou… Di ba didi dou! Didi didldildidldidl houdihoudi dey dou!
- The End of the World: Philosophers since time immemorial have interpreted the world in various ways. We millennials know the point is that it’s ending, surely? But how? This early prediction missed the mark, but was entertaining, now wasn’t it?
- Have You Seen This Man?: Well… have you? In your dreams, specifically? Someone really, really wants to know. Who is he, and why is he so important. Did we ever even figure it out? He looked like my middle school science teacher…
- Three Wolf Moon: Showing your (ironic?) appreciation for (were?)wolves and feral side of things was pretty easy back in the 2000s - just wear one of these to the mall, but try not to smell like weed.
- United Breaks Guitars: Musicians draw inspiration from wide gamut of human experiences, some glorious and beautiful, some tragic and heart-wrenching. In this tale, learn how a musician from Canada, after a meaningful yet painful experience on a flight from Halifax to Nebraska, pens a moving song.