Early 2000s forums were a special place. None I was part of were quite as close-knit as yours sounds, but the general quality of discourse of those I frequented

Early 2000s forums were a special place. None I was part of were quite as close-knit as yours sounds, but the general quality of discourse of those I frequented back then was a good deal higher than what’s commonly seen on social media these days. It’s too bad they’ve gone extinct. The few old style forums that are still hanging on do so by way of sheer momentum (huge numbers of posters) or by having become fringe echo chambers and are just as bad or worse than social media.