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11

What are your memories of the early internet?

submitted by FuckShitJesus to whatever 2 daysJun 10, 2025 23:20:30 ago (+12/-1)     (whatever)

I remember a significantly more open and unrestricted place.

You could access almost any information - without navigating things like paywalls, ego-restrictions, data caps, or DNS censorship.

People shared content freely.


42 comments block

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[ - ] Crackinjokes 5 points 2 daysJun 11, 2025 01:04:25 ago (+5/-0)

Compuserve. It charged you by the minute so you didn't just surf it by hand you bought these other programs that would ask you what you wanted to see and you would check the boxes and it would go online to CompuServe and download it all as fast as your modem would allow so you could read it offline and not be charged as much money.

It was actually a really big deal when internet providers stopped charging you by the minute.

[ - ] Lost_In_The_Thinking 1 point 2 daysJun 11, 2025 01:42:18 ago (+1/-0)*

I had a demo for Compuserve for about an hour or two back in, oh, 1991 I'd say. It was amazing and if I could have afforded it, I would have subscribed.

[ - ] MeyerLansky 3 points 2 daysJun 10, 2025 23:30:07 ago (+3/-0)

Madonna naked. The Rusty n Edie’s BBS. Toxic Warez. EFnet. "A/S/L?". Prodigy. Usenet Groups. AOL. Dial up sounds. Disconnecting when someone wanted to use the phone. Gemstone Text Based MUD. Temple of the Screaming Electron. Netscape Navigator. GeoCities (RIP). Napster (RIP). "All your base are belong to us". Blue Waffle.

[ - ] FuckShitJesus [op] -1 points 2 daysJun 10, 2025 23:33:03 ago (+0/-1)

The first time you watched a Rammstein music video where they, quite literally, just hired and fucked a bunch of prostitutes in Amsterdam to make 4+ mins of the video. Called Pussy, obviously.

[ - ] LiberalsAreMental 3 points 2 daysJun 11, 2025 00:45:26 ago (+3/-0)

Fidonet email.

Mid-life Internet was Usenet and ignoring AOL CDs.

Then the Internet entered its senescence.

[ - ] Crackinjokes 3 points 2 daysJun 11, 2025 01:03:30 ago (+3/-0)

UseNet was the most underrated thing and I don't know if it's still exists but if it does it's probably where all the smart stuff is happening because it takes more than the average mouse clicker to be able to access it.

[ - ] Cunty 1 point 2 daysJun 11, 2025 02:24:33 ago (+1/-0)

Yes, it's still a thing or at least it was a very free years ago when I reused it.

[ - ] Looneyskiprooney 1 point 2 daysJun 11, 2025 07:25:05 ago (+1/-0)

Still does exist.

[ - ] MartinTimothy 2 points 2 daysJun 11, 2025 03:06:32 ago (+2/-0)

"Senescence is a biological process where cells permanently stop dividing but remain metabolically active. Google.

Well, you learn something new every day ..

[ - ] qwop 3 points 2 daysJun 11, 2025 03:27:53 ago (+3/-0)

No ads. In fact the internet etiquette at the time was against all advertising. People knew back then what it would lead to if allowed. Average internet IQ was probably double what it is now, because it actually required some knowledge to get online.

[ - ] GrayDragon 3 points 2 daysJun 11, 2025 06:42:59 ago (+3/-0)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xalTFH5ht-k

In the mid 90s, I was responsible for developing the modem communication software to transmit purchase orders (essentially just bullshit data exchange). My cubicle had two 800 numbers and six local lines hooked up to it. My cubicle was cluttered with computers and modems all over the place. I love my current job, but that job might have been magic.

[ - ] CHIRO 3 points 2 daysJun 11, 2025 07:19:57 ago (+3/-0)

You could find titties on YouTube.

I stress find.

Now you can't escape titties on YouTube.

[ - ] Sector2 1 point 1 dayJun 11, 2025 12:59:15 ago (+1/-0)

The titties are coming for you, or maybe I have that backwards.

[ - ] 2Drunk 2 points 2 daysJun 10, 2025 23:25:10 ago (+2/-0)

Counter strike source before all the bans. I remember calling people NIGGER and making some poor kid cry. Was in a clan and we had our own server. Good times.

[ - ] FuckShitJesus [op] 0 points 2 daysJun 10, 2025 23:27:00 ago (+1/-1)

Bro.

Counter-strike when there were LANs.

[ - ] Master_Foo 2 points 2 daysJun 10, 2025 23:27:24 ago (+2/-0)

Back before normies found out about it.
The interwebs was wild.
You had a tub and a girl and even some times two girls, but alas, thet only had one cup to share between them.
Then, when you least expected it, you got hit right in the ear by some ginger playing some cheesy 80's pop music.

Then one day, some guy got his balls stuck in the wooden slats of his chair, and they shut everything down.

[ - ] Kozel 2 points 2 daysJun 11, 2025 00:54:41 ago (+2/-0)

that balls guy died in the meat grinder in Ukraine earlier this year

[ - ] MuricaPersonified 0 points 1 dayJun 11, 2025 15:43:08 ago (+0/-0)

Wasn't the ballslat guy on Fark? Or was it SomethingAwful? In either case, it was right before leftist degenerates ruined both sites. Good times.

[ - ] Master_Foo 0 points 1 dayJun 11, 2025 16:13:43 ago (+0/-0)

Is that true?
I didn't know we were keeping track of the guy.

[ - ] iSnark 2 points 2 daysJun 10, 2025 23:48:48 ago (+2/-0)

Working for a nationally known corporation, where we switched to a "non-existent" network at lunch time to play Duke-Nukem with the tech team, including our boss, the CIO, during the lunch hour...

[ - ] FuckShitJesus [op] 0 points 1 dayJun 11, 2025 18:54:15 ago (+0/-0)

Scorched Earth 3D & Wolfenstein 3D.

[ - ] Crackinjokes 2 points 2 daysJun 11, 2025 01:02:42 ago (+2/-0)

Simple HTML pages that load very quickly cuz they didn't have a lot of computer programs like JavaScript running in the background. It was just text and imaging and links. So they loaded super fast.

[ - ] PoundOfFlesh 0 points 1 dayJun 11, 2025 09:01:47 ago (+0/-0)

The lack of empty, wasted white space on webpages. Normal sized text. Efficient and productive. Everything you need to find right there on the screen. No mobile-focused bullshit.

[ - ] puremadness 1 point 1 dayJun 11, 2025 10:35:59 ago (+1/-0)

most of the internet is made for phones now and most internetting is done on phones now.

we are relics.

[ - ] MartinTimothy 2 points 2 daysJun 11, 2025 02:54:21 ago (+2/-0)

In 2004 after a computer crash I lost every copy of a tract I had written about the war in Vietnam .. I searched high and low to no avail, while the web forums I had posted it on had either been closed down or they had disbarred the post .. I Google searched a single line of text and up it came .. that doesn't happen any more hi-ho.

[ - ] Niggly_Puff 1 point 2 daysJun 10, 2025 23:59:42 ago (+1/-0)

AIM was peak communication. Being able to go offline or put up an away message. Now people can text you anytime and get offended if you don't get back to them instantly. You could walk away. Can't do that today.

[ - ] Kozel 4 points 2 daysJun 11, 2025 00:53:01 ago (+4/-0)

a client emailed me, and we went back and forth, and as I was crafting a reply she emailed me some shit along the lines of "hello are you going to respond dont ignore me"

so I deleted my response and told her I can't do the job

[ - ] Sector2 1 point 1 dayJun 11, 2025 12:56:38 ago (+1/-0)

The Cool Site of the Day was a popular early website that highlighted noteworthy online content. Originally launched in August 1994 and maintained by Glenn Davis, it quickly gained traction, attracting around 10,000 daily visitors within months and over 20,000 within a year. The "Cool Site" designation became a coveted prize among Silicon Alley start-ups.

[ - ] beece 0 points 2 daysJun 10, 2025 23:37:15 ago (+0/-0)

Trying to get the modem to connect. Upgrading to a 2400 baud modem and being in heaven.

Tub girl, 2 girls one cup and priceless420 were still around the corner.

[ - ] Trope 0 points 2 daysJun 10, 2025 23:56:32 ago (+0/-0)

I think it was 4th grade at the height of Pokemon. Every kid in school knew about this one badass websites called pokefinds.8m.com

Every week, there was newly uploaded animated GIF of two Pokemon fighting to the death.

I had my own webpage on AOL Hometown. Then I made another website using a program called Hotdog Express. Then I found a free program called Klik N Play for Schools which became a massive time sink.

Also let’s not forget Mr Hats Hell Hole if you were a fan of the first few seasons of South Park.

[ - ] paul_neri 0 points 2 daysJun 11, 2025 00:29:31 ago (+0/-0)

Naked women.

[ - ] xmasskull 0 points 2 daysJun 11, 2025 01:21:08 ago (+0/-0)

I remember playing this game with another computer,it was called

"Global Thermo Nuclear War". I got bored & walked.

[ - ] boekanier 0 points 2 daysJun 11, 2025 02:59:37 ago (+0/-0)

the dollars took it over

[ - ] jfroybees 0 points 2 daysJun 11, 2025 03:43:58 ago (+0/-0)

Prodigy and ICQ

[ - ] CHIRO 1 point 2 daysJun 11, 2025 07:18:49 ago (+1/-0)

ICQ, haha. Uh oh!

[ - ] jfroybees 1 point 1 dayJun 11, 2025 17:37:56 ago (+1/-0)

Yes, yes. Have your fun.

[ - ] Zyklonbeekeeper 0 points 2 daysJun 11, 2025 06:42:23 ago (+0/-0)

Dial up on party-line, the modem was constantly mistaken for the fridge and G.W. Bush was telling Americans to "read my lips"

[ - ] mahavishnunj 0 points 2 daysJun 11, 2025 08:36:20 ago (+0/-0)

I didn't get online personally until 1994, but my friend's dad was balls deep through the 80s. All I remember from then was ascii tits taking an eternity to download and print.

[ - ] PoundOfFlesh 0 points 1 dayJun 11, 2025 08:55:27 ago (+0/-0)

Using Gopher to download all kinds of shareware and game demos.

[ - ] ruck_feddit 0 points 1 dayJun 11, 2025 11:58:47 ago (+0/-0)

I remember when every link worked.

[ - ] CMajor 0 points 1 dayJun 11, 2025 12:42:07 ago (+0/-0)

N

[ - ] RollinDaGrassTyson 0 points 13 hoursJun 12, 2025 18:52:50 ago (+0/-0)

No tabs

Watching images load in line by line from left to right

Primitive flash games

Ghost videos that needed to buffer for so long, that you'd go out for a bike ride or something, before coming back to press 'play' only to be met with a jump scare.

"Clubbing baby seals" Matrix OST as an integral part of said ghost videos.

Being too young to appreciate what a precious snapshot in history that time would be.