I share your sentiments, I remember those "social networks" i.e. forums, irc, etc being a place that actually were centered around social activities. In the lat

I share your sentiments, I remember those "social networks" i.e. forums, irc, etc being a place that actually were centered around social activities. In the late 90s and early 2000s there were numerous communities with their own flare and "internet culture" (in a positive way), they facilitated local meet-ups and were genuinely friendly to new members. Even though users were pseudonymous there wasn't as much hostility as it is now behind the real names on fb, probably because those communities were small and you users actually knew each other. I'm not sure what happened, maybe bullies and jocks found their way to the web, maybe everyone just suddenly became superficial, maybe it's generational changes, who knows... It's sad in a way, there are glimpses of hope emerging, like matrix and mastodon. Fb has eaten the social networks as I knew it and it came out of the other end to the point that I sometimes call it faecesbook, that summaries it well for me.