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Oh yes. Totally unknown people randomly met on IRC in 1994/1995 would send you CDs of their own music, strangers from other countries would invite you to come
by hbbio 4y ago
Oh yes.
Totally unknown people randomly met on IRC in 1994/1995 would send you CDs of their own music, strangers from other countries would invite you to come and stay a couple weeks at their place (that existed again for a while at the beginning of Couchsurfing), etc.
The level of trust and friendliness was incredible: There was maybe 0.1% of the population online and we were in awe of this new world.
- hunter2_ 4y ago> There was maybe 0.1% of the population online I find that HN roughly equates to that 0.1%, and there are definitely some other high quality corners of the internet where enthusiasts of whatever topic can have excellent discussions, but it's tough to find them among the ever-increasing noise. Now that roughly everyone is online to some extent, what's the next frontier -- what can provide that sort of hidden community? I don't know that "power user" or "computer nerd" will ever be the means of gatekeeping that it once was, so what's next?
- theluketowers 4y agoNot sure if it's exactly what you're looking for, but the closest modern equivalent might be the various VR games / apps that are centred around socializing with other random people (like VR Chat).