Conceptually similar, but one thing most people miss is that the demographics of people were quite different, meaning much more limited. They skewed white, male

Conceptually similar, but one thing most people miss is that the demographics of people were quite different, meaning much more limited. They skewed white, male, hetero, reasonably well-off, and if you were on a BBS or IRC channel, there's not an unlikelihood that you would have a huge amount in common as the barrier of admission was considerably higher, and to even want to be on there or end up on there meant you probably liked x and felt y just like your peers did. Who you were likely to interact with informed what you were likely to be exposed to in terms of ideas. I much prefer the modern web as there's a greater chance of getting new or different ideas coming down the pipe, even if that means a greater chance for conflict. There were still trolls and flame wars, but the scale was far smaller as communities were smaller, versus now with Twitter where you can become the "main character" for a considerable number of people temporarily.