I miss the pre-Internet and especially the Time Before The Web. I can still hear the sound of my dial-up modem connecting to local BBSes. Telnetting into a MUD. Porn at 2k/second. Compuserve.
Nostalgia? Yes. Was it better? No, just different. But the Internet and Web’s advent felt like waking up to see a freeway had been run through my residential street. And there was no going back. It’s difficult to describe the feeling of those days to someone who has only known the Web and Internet.
I’m sure it’s just the age I’ve hit, but I have been overwhelmingly nostalgic for those days lately. The internet was FUN, while still being ridiculously useful and efficient. The information of the entire planet was at our fingertips and available instantly (well, at ~2Kb/s).
The web was minimal and slick and information-dense. Content owned the day, whether it was super-active IRC channels or news groups or websites with a 728x90 banner at the top and the rest was content (most of which fit “above the fold”!).
I was growing up when the first people got BBS' and CompuServe. I don't miss the days of dial-up.
I miss the days just as you learned Google could answer questions you asked in free-form, without the censorship and advertisement preferences they give today. Those were better days on gonewild also.
I miss the wild west, sue me. My entire life wasn't on whatever system I was using, so it wouldn't have mattered if someone messed it up. I don't miss the hardware of the time, but at least the web wasn't sterilized and owned by a few companies.
Oh man... I am so nostalgic of the past web. Probalby because I became the person I am browsing that web (I was a teenager maturing).
The images of the old Google and the Google Toolbar (in the web.archive link) brought so many memories... Not only of internet, but what was happening with my life around it, the people I had, and more. Those were the happy times, weren't?
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