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I was at university just as residential networking was installed, so all of the students doing computer work would hang out in the room full of terminals and wo

I was at university just as residential networking was installed, so all of the students doing computer work would hang out in the room full of terminals and workstations. There was a single serial terminal on each residential floor for quick email sessions, but if you needed to get work done, you went over to the computer center. Some rooms had X Terminals, others more powerful workstations, and there were some large central hosts that had the licensed applications needed for some coursework. There would be a hundred people logged in at once. It was common for people to set up .plan files, use Unix "talk" to message each other, we had a local Usenet hierarchy in addition to the global one. People shared what they learned, experimented with early Gopher and Web, a natural community was formed. Once the residences were wired, a lot of that culture went away.

lubujackson 2y ago
I love hearing about these early forays in social media. Having been involved on BBSes in my youth there was a certain magic that hasn't been reproduced since, especially around that sweet spot of local, pseudo-anonymous networks - kind of like seeing the same crowd in a coffeeshop. I read in college about the advent of city life in the 19th century where a new form of human interaction was explored, the "flaneur": someone a part of the urban crowd, but anonymous within it. Able to view on people's daily lives, but without being seen themselves. Wild to think that this was a new concept to people that had only know village/town living for generations. I feel early computer networks created something similar online, albeit briefly.
- lurk2 2y ago
  There have been a few networks that have tried to emulate what you're describing with regards to local pseudonymity (NextDoor being the first that comes to mind), but most of the audience for it just uses a local subreddit or Facebook group now. WhatsApp can also be an option, depending on the country you are in.

lubujackson 2y ago

I love hearing about these early forays in social media. Having been involved on BBSes in my youth there was a certain magic that hasn't been reproduced since, especially around that sweet spot of local, pseudo-anonymous networks - kind of like seeing the same crowd in a coffeeshop. I read in college about the advent of city life in the 19th century where a new form of human interaction was explored, the "flaneur": someone a part of the urban crowd, but anonymous within it. Able to view on people's daily lives, but without being seen themselves. Wild to think that this was a new concept to people that had only know village/town living for generations. I feel early computer networks created something similar online, albeit briefly.

lurk2 2y ago
There have been a few networks that have tried to emulate what you're describing with regards to local pseudonymity (NextDoor being the first that comes to mind), but most of the audience for it just uses a local subreddit or Facebook group now. WhatsApp can also be an option, depending on the country you are in.