I don't think it did. I was just like OP here, getting involved in the anonymous boards around 2004 because they were spreading funny images and links. But I w

I don't think it did. I was just like OP here, getting involved in the anonymous boards around 2004 because they were spreading funny images and links. But I was 19 at the time. And around the age of 26-27 I stopped spending time in that culture. So I think you just outgrow it. But those cultures are still alive out there. New people come in, some old people stay. There are always going to be kids who refuse the "normal" trends like snapchat. Who seek out alternative places and those alternative places are imo still websites. Apps will never breach this space because apps are too easy to adopt by large groups of your peers. The alt.kids want something tougher, a challenge. And most of all they want to get away from the throng. I'm just waiting to see persistent community forums in darknets. Of course I don't make an effort to track these things anymore but I'd love to know that it has become a reality. Anonymity is important because just like games lead to programming and hacking, anonymous forums lead to free expression and sub-cultures. It might look like they're just goofing around but look at what 4chan became. We were just goofing around but enough people came to goof around to make it a potential movement.