20 ms·

I'm really glad those of us who were around on these systems in the late 80s/early-90s are recording some of their experiences. It really was a wonderful period

I'm really glad those of us who were around on these systems in the late 80s/early-90s are recording some of their experiences. It really was a wonderful period, when the Internet was small, and to some extent we felt like we were already living in the future. I find it hard to explain... but the character of the connected world was different in those days. The technical barriers were a great filter.

flir 2y ago
I know I was reading think pieces by the mid-90s that accused these early adopters of being unreasonable elitists, who were gatekeeping because they just happened to get there first, and should shut up and sit down instead of complaining about their clubhouse having all these new faces in it. I'm gonna say it. It was better before them.
- nickdothutton 2y ago
  Of course there are a million things you can do and find and learn now, that you couldn't in the early 90s, and I'm glad for that part. The overall quality of the discourse today though... not so much.
- lurk2 2y ago
  One of the things I've noticed in the last several years is that I seem to have more interactions online that leave me without any doubt in my mind that the other party is experiencing some manner of psychosis. You'd occasionally run into people like this on YouTube in the late-2000s and on Reddit in the early-2010s, but it had a certain novelty to it back then. Everyone had a story about into an argument with some crazy guy online. In the last couple of years, I'd say I see someone experiencing some sort of psychological crisis online more days than not. This hasn't had the kind of negative impact that SEO had on the Internet, but it certainly hasn't helped.
  - flir 2y ago
    Mike Corley is a name some ancient Brits might remember. I just checked and his website's gone. I hope he's ok - he'd be pretty old by now.
  - 01HNNWZ0MV43FF 2y ago
    https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/9rvroo/most_of_what_you_read_on_the_internet_is_written/ https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/9rvroo/most... "Most of what you read on the Internet is written by insane people" Present company included ofc
- ToucanLoucan 2y ago
  Damn right it was. The "unreasonable elitists" itself was a narrative spun by a law firm that made one of the first of what would eventually be called spam messages, in the form of BBS posts advertising their services to would-be immigrants to the United States looking to get into tech. They spammed their post to tons of BBS boards of varieties of topics, which often meant users of many of them were downloading that spam message many, many, many times, and because this was back when data was charged by the byte, they were paying for that privilege too. Naturally, they were pissed the hell off and crashed the law firm's servers with hatemail and harassment (rightfully so IMO.). In turn the firm took to the public talking about these weird nerds and their "internet" and how it was the future of commerce, whether they liked it or not, and businesses had the right to free speech same as anyone, and that included the right to advertise. IMHO, that's a canon event to when the Internet was destined to be ruined. As soon as the fucking salespeople got in, it was game over man.
- lmm 2y ago
  No-one wants to acknowledge it, but elitism works. Hanging out with a bunch of people who are better (on whatever metric you care to pick) is just a lot more pleasant than hanging out with the unwashed masses, as well as making you more productive etc.. Of course the flip side is that those who are excluded don't benefit, so I suspect it's all zero-sum or worse.
dugmartin 2y ago
Yes, I (a student at the time at a midwest USA university) remember being on a BITNET relay chat in the fall of 1989 chatting with a German university student while the Berlin Wall was falling down. To me that was magical - it was like having a teleporter and being "virtually" there instead of just watching the news on TV.

flir 2y ago

I know I was reading think pieces by the mid-90s that accused these early adopters of being unreasonable elitists, who were gatekeeping because they just happened to get there first, and should shut up and sit down instead of complaining about their clubhouse having all these new faces in it. I'm gonna say it. It was better before them.

nickdothutton 2y ago
Of course there are a million things you can do and find and learn now, that you couldn't in the early 90s, and I'm glad for that part. The overall quality of the discourse today though... not so much.
lurk2 2y ago
One of the things I've noticed in the last several years is that I seem to have more interactions online that leave me without any doubt in my mind that the other party is experiencing some manner of psychosis. You'd occasionally run into people like this on YouTube in the late-2000s and on Reddit in the early-2010s, but it had a certain novelty to it back then. Everyone had a story about into an argument with some crazy guy online. In the last couple of years, I'd say I see someone experiencing some sort of psychological crisis online more days than not. This hasn't had the kind of negative impact that SEO had on the Internet, but it certainly hasn't helped.
- flir 2y ago
  Mike Corley is a name some ancient Brits might remember. I just checked and his website's gone. I hope he's ok - he'd be pretty old by now.
- 01HNNWZ0MV43FF 2y ago
  https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/9rvroo/most_of_what_you_read_on_the_internet_is_written/ https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/9rvroo/most... "Most of what you read on the Internet is written by insane people" Present company included ofc
ToucanLoucan 2y ago
Damn right it was. The "unreasonable elitists" itself was a narrative spun by a law firm that made one of the first of what would eventually be called spam messages, in the form of BBS posts advertising their services to would-be immigrants to the United States looking to get into tech. They spammed their post to tons of BBS boards of varieties of topics, which often meant users of many of them were downloading that spam message many, many, many times, and because this was back when data was charged by the byte, they were paying for that privilege too. Naturally, they were pissed the hell off and crashed the law firm's servers with hatemail and harassment (rightfully so IMO.). In turn the firm took to the public talking about these weird nerds and their "internet" and how it was the future of commerce, whether they liked it or not, and businesses had the right to free speech same as anyone, and that included the right to advertise. IMHO, that's a canon event to when the Internet was destined to be ruined. As soon as the fucking salespeople got in, it was game over man.
lmm 2y ago
No-one wants to acknowledge it, but elitism works. Hanging out with a bunch of people who are better (on whatever metric you care to pick) is just a lot more pleasant than hanging out with the unwashed masses, as well as making you more productive etc.. Of course the flip side is that those who are excluded don't benefit, so I suspect it's all zero-sum or worse.

dugmartin 2y ago

Yes, I (a student at the time at a midwest USA university) remember being on a BITNET relay chat in the fall of 1989 chatting with a German university student while the Berlin Wall was falling down. To me that was magical - it was like having a teleporter and being "virtually" there instead of just watching the news on TV.