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,

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.