This is what bums me out. I went down my AIM contact list when I got this news and realized I had fond memories of people from the 00s that I will never be able

This is what bums me out. I went down my AIM contact list when I got this news and realized I had fond memories of people from the 00s that I will never be able to find again because there is no name attached to their AIM. But at the same time, that detachment was what made those interactions magical. I knew people by screen name, not real name. They weren't constrained by what their lives meant offline because all they were online was what they made that screenname out to be. Getting into the Internet i the late 90s / early 2000s was like another world because of how detached from boring reality it was. That being said, the Internet has only really gotten better for weirdos. There is everything from decades old niche website forums to subreddits to new stuff like Matrix rooms for almost any subject.