It's easy for many to forget how long the internet's actually been around. In our modern era of using social media for everything and maintaining connections with our loved through a small computer in our pockets what slips our mind is we used to receive CDs allowing us 5000 free hours of America Online.
So, yeah, internet is a much different place now than 10 years ago, so let's look back on what it might have been like for some people.
Reddit user, u/slclgbt, wanted to hear about the way back times when they asked:
What is your favorite moment from internet history?
Getting In Touch From All Over
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A radio station here in Dallas had recently (mid-1990s) started streaming online. The announcer was describing how amazing it was to get Emails from listeners from literally all over the world. Her favorite was two boys who liked the station's music, but what really fascinated them were the traffic reports. They'd spent their entire lives on some little island in the Pacific, and the thought of a line of cars several miles long absolutely blew their minds.
Or How 99% Of Music Traveled In 2001
Limewire.
It was also responsible for giving the family computer AIDS.
But boy did it download.
When Invitations Mattered
The launch of Gmail - 1GB of space?!
Totally! Remember when you had to be invited to use it?
Yep, invites were so valuable. You had 5 invites to give away. I had to choose who my best friends were very carefully.
Authenticity, Before The Corporations Got Involved
Early YouTube, like 2007ish.
Videos on it were more authentic and captured real life back then. Now it's literally a market.
And the fact that you could have video responses to videos! Me and my friends used to make videos in 2007 and every single one would have a video response of just a black screen and a disguised voice saying he was coming to kill us. Freaked us out, turns out it was one of our friends who was making videos with us the whole time. Our stupid selves really thought a stranger was stalking our 15-view videos.
Keyword: Potential
I remember the night Princess Diana died. The news broke on the internet a few hours before it hit the news. It was crazy. Not necessarily my "favorite" moment, but stands out as the first real time I saw the potential of the internet to distribute information much faster than news.
Everyone Got A Million Of Those Little Discs
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1994. Got AOL in high school and was pretty depressed. An unknown 15/F/TX literally saved my life by talking to me all night long and wouldn't let me sign off and take some pills. She even PMed me every day for the next 2 years to make sure I had someone to look forward to talk to and to listen. Best damn friend and internet moment I could have asked for. Maybe not historical, but the most important internet moment in my history...
To answer a couple questions:
- no we never met in person, but she knows why. We kept in touch for a long time and really just grew apart. No hard feelings, it just happened. It doesn't change what she did or what it meant.
- no, it's not fake. There are some things that we just can't say in person. I had a great upbringing and have a wonderful family. I didn't want to disappoint them with my thoughts of myself as a teen. I was lucky that a complete stranger listened on the right day and I had access to the tool that made it possible (even with my 28.8 modem).
Before Twitch Was Twitch
TwitchPlaysPokemon when it first started. It was such a revolutionary thing and everyone was watching to see how it would go. Anticipation for other applications of the concept ran high.
Unfortunately, it was just a short fad and nothing more.
Taking On The Man
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There was a time when the internet felt like the Wild West. Corporations were largely ignoring it and people were making all sorts of content out of passion, not because they wanted to make money.
It felt like all digital products and information in the entire world was available for free through either torrent or the Usenet. Along with the great availability came great risk. If you weren't smart, a song download could end up being a virus that wiped your hard drive!
You could easily hack websites and often even databases and systems. The government was pretty ignorant about all of it, so if you were even moderately careful and not attacking important government sites or financial institutions, it was very low risk. I never did any black hat stuff, but I loved finding exploits and poking around systems as an unauthorized user.
Blogging wasn't evolved yet, so everyone made really awful websites, full of great content. The Internet as a whole was about concepts and ideas, not people and products. Of course as more people started getting online, the companies started paying attention and then came MySpace. After MySpace was created, normal every day people started flocking to the Internet. With this massive influx of users came new laws, and new advertising. The new content was now commercial when it wasn't egotistical.
So I suppose for me, that moment of Internet history I love the most is right before MySpace became popular. It was probably best about 2 years before MySpace when we were taking on DRM, the RIAA, the MPAA and corporations in general, and feeling like we were winning. Anonymous was active and seemed untouchable. People all across the globe were helping NASA search for extraterrestrial life in a giant hive project called SETI. Everything felt new and free!
As an aside, Suprnova.org and their related forum and IRC was bad a--. I made a bunch of friends there that I kept in contact with for years.
Of Course, Not All Bits Of The Internet Are Pleasant...
My favorite moment is when one guild in World of Warcraft held a gigantic memorial service for one of their people who stroked out and died. It was huge. There were dozens of people there, all just paying their respects ... And then another guild came and crashed it.
Don't get me wrong, it was a terrible thing they did. But it's hard not to crack up when the action starts to the tune of Scat Man: https://youtu.be/MEpv7YxnLCQ
And to be fair, holding any kind of event on a PvP server without posting guards or scouts is a big no-no and begging for disaster.
Do you have something to confess to George? Text "Secrets" or "" to +1 (310) 299-9390 to talk him about it.
The excuses people use to dismiss behavior range from mundane and meaningless to the sort of leaps normally reserved for kangaroos and Olympians. It's sometimes amazing that these excuses work - but they do.
Some of them work so well that they're just sort of "accepted." That, obviously, kind of sucks and is something we should avoid - so let's talk about 'em.
Can't swerve around what you don't see, ya know?
Reddit user TMTtasmachine asked:
What's the biggest excuse used for a-hole behavior that shouldn't be accepted as much as it is?
... and away we go.
Jerk Privileges
" 'That's just how they are.' "
"One of the biggest enablers for tantrum throwing, bullying, etc. is that they get treated with kid gloves to avoid dealing with them." - alexrt87
"Oh my God you hit the nail on the head. Whenever someone says 'that's just the way they are' I say:"
" 'Yes, that's the point! Glad you noticed too! Now is it okey-doke for them to be jerks they have special jerk privileges? Or maybe they are just people and should treat everyone else as such?' " - notatrumpchump
"It depends on how it's said."
"People are the way that they are, and you shouldn't be surprised when they continue to be that way."
"This, obviously, doesn't excuse it - but people also shouldn't be surprised when a bad person continues to make bad decisions. Neither should we waste space in our minds being bothered by it." - unlawfulfoxy
Harassment Isn't Humor
season 2 lol GIF by ShamelessGiphy" 'It's just a joke, bro.' Harassing people isn't humor." - loading__99
"Schrödinger's Douchebag"
"A guy who says/does offensive things and decides whether he was joking based on the reaction of people around him." - Eatsleeptren
"Dude, legit had someone come up to me and start shouting in my face, calling me Madison, pretending I was cheating on him. Literally the most crowded location outside a theater, everyone staring at us, looking at me like I was some horrible cheater while I was out with my then fiancé."
"I started hyperventilating, my fiancé nearly decked the dude, and then someone shouts 'CUT' like this is some big 'YOU'RE ON CANDID CAMERA' moment and everything's supposed to be okay."
"I burst into tears."
"It was the most humiliating moment of my life, and thank god my then fiancé, now husband is not the type to overreact or jump to conclusions, or be abusive. Imagine how bad that could have been for someone with an angry or abusive partner."
"Prank videos are a plague on the internet and there is a REASON so many of them are fake, or involve actors." - Darkovika
Stay Sober, Then!
Drunk Drinking Beer GIFGiphy" 'I was drunk / high / etc.' "
"Then don't drink?! Stay sober if you can't NOT be an a**hole!" - BasedBenjamin
"Alternately, I hear a lot of 'I'm a happy drunk!' "
"Yeah, according to your drunk a$s. That doesn't mean you're not an ahole. Not remembering is not an excuse either." - PepeBabinski
"I was that guy. I swore I was a 'happy drunk' - and I was. It was everyone ELSE who was miserable while I was happy."
"I was also loud, obnoxious, and I wouldn't remember sh*t the next day."
"Quitting drinking has been one of my best choices of my life." - TTungsteNN
"Help"
new girl coach GIFGiphy" 'I'm just trying to help you' " - Miserable-Air1234
"Every time I've heard this, they're manipulating me while helping only themselves." - mykittenfarts
"My Mom to a T. Everything she does is better than anyone else's and she always gets pissed that people don't praise her for 'helping.' "
"She's now a certified (by herself) psychic and I have come to the conclusion that she's not a covert narcissist but an obvious one. I really wish I was joking." - Silent_Discussion657
Parenting Problems
Leave Me Alone Run GIF by TLC EuropeGiphy"Any variation of 'I'm a Mother/parent.' "
"Had some lady cut me in line at a coffee shop and she hit me with 'I'm a single Mom of 3!' as her excuse."
"Ok? And? I was still here first." - maid-for-hire
"I'm a single mom and I f*cking haaaate when other single moms/parents pull that sh*t to get special treatment."
"Last week, I was having a rough morning, my kid was being difficult, and I was running late. I was rude to a cashier over a minor inconvenience."
"Not only did I apologize for my shitty behavior, I wrote corporate to let them know how professional and patient she was while I acted like a f*cking toddler."
"Was being a parent part of the reason I was frustrated? Absolutely. Was it an excuse for that behavior? HELL no."
"I acted like a b*tch, and I called myself out, and I apologized. I still feel bad about that - I rarely let things get to me to the point I snap at others." - ClusterfckyShtshow
"Wow. I'm a Mom as well and tired but it doesn't give anyone a right to use it as some sort of ploy to get away with stuff."
"Like, mice become Moms about 12 times a year. You're not special 🤣" - SpoonLoops
Believing Your Boss
The Office Monday GIF by 20th Century Fox Home EntertainmentGiphy"I had a boss say some really racist sh*t around me one day and the next day, out of nowhere, he says:"
" 'Don't believe half the things that come out of my mouth!' "
"It was not really an excuse, more like trying to cover for himself after the fact, but still stuck with me." - sirlongbottom441
"Report them to HR. Seriously." - kokichi--ouma
"Looking past the racist stuff for a bit, that's not a very encouraging thing to hear from a boss…" - WonderfulBlackberry9
Bad Day Again
Bad Day Reaction GIF by Schitt's CreekGiphy" 'I'm having a bad day/week' "
"Okay, so you decide everybody that you interact with deserves the same fate? Get out of here, dude." - myordinaryexistence
"We all got stress, don't take it out on me. I get some people have stress bad enough for it to be passable every once and a while (family member passing, etc) but general, stress should not lead to you being a jerk to me." - willsimpforfree
"Damn, I'm definitely guilty of this. Usually I remember to apologize after but at this point I've learned to just avoid the situation in the first place by minimizing my interaction with people if I'm in a shitty mood." - nozzzrul
"Reminds me of when that White boy went on a murder rampage and killed a bunch of Asian women & that a-hole sheriff gave a press conference telling the media that the 'poor boy had a bad day.' "
"My idea of a bad day involves going home after a rough day at work and just staying in the house."
"Apparently, I should change my ethnicity from Asian to White and go on a murder rampage, see if my @ss gets a sympathetic sheriff to say on my behalf that I had 'a bad day.' " - kingkazul400
It's Not An Excuse
Season 2 Reaction GIF by FriendsGiphy"This won't go down well, but using depression as an excuse. As someone who suffers from it, it's still not ok to treat others like sh*t" - Rainbowwallstickers
"Could not agree enough. My partner has a 'friend' who treats everyone like sh*t all the time, has no consideration for others and openly mocks people in public."
"She gets so much grace from those around her under the guise of her 'mental health.' It's so infuriating watching an adult woman never have to take responsibility for her actions." - 34boor
"I get there are some things you can't control, but you are still responsible for keeping that sh*t in check and if you're aware of your mental illness, you should be aware of how you approach people and situations."
"I'll admit I used to be guilty of using my mental illness to be an @ss, but now I'm trying to better myself" - VeeSquibbles
Florida Gonna Florida
Looney Tunes Florida GIFGiphy"People are letting Florida off the hook way too damn much. And I live in Florida."
"Just because it's hilarious doesn't mean it isn't still completely f*cked up." - AlphaWhiskeyOscar
"The phrase 'Florida Man' is almost always followed some heinous way a Floridian is being an a$$hole." - PepeBabinski
"I'm also originally from Florida, and that state has serious problems. We need to pay attention to it." - [Reddit]
Moment of honesty ... as a Floridian ... yeaaaah, I'm gonna have to agree with that last one.