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People Share Their Absolute Favorite Moments From Internet History

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.

Passing4human

Or How 99% Of Music Traveled In 2001

Limewire.

It was also responsible for giving the family computer AIDS.

But boy did it download.

GravyxNips

When Invitations Mattered

The launch of Gmail - 1GB of space?!

Isnsf

Totally! Remember when you had to be invited to use it?

slclgbt

Yep, invites were so valuable. You had 5 invites to give away. I had to choose who my best friends were very carefully.

Isnsf

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.

Granitium

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.

jacksoncobalt

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.

89two

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.

smooth_ac

At Least He Has Chicken

LEROY JENKINS!!!!!

ssp81777

Omg, he just ran in.

Sweet_Roll_Thieves

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.

SheriffBartholomew

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.

Joska-Rifinaukr

Do you have something to confess to George? Text "Secrets" or "🤐" to +1 (310) 299-9390 to talk him about it.

People Break Down The Most Ridiculous Majors They've Ever Heard Of

Reddit user GazelleHistorical705 asked: 'What is the most ridiculous college major you’ve ever heard of?'

College classroom
Dom Fou/Unsplash

Many high school graduates face the conundrum of what to major in when they go on to pursue higher education.

Teens who haven't already sparked an interest in a particular field by the time they graduate wind up buying more time waiting for enlightenment by electing "undecided."

But to avoid any stigma of being an idle scholar, some students settle on majors they thought never existed.

"Fun with pasta," anyone?

While such a major might not exist, I wouldn't put it past some academia for coming up with it.

Curious to hear what those unheard-of specialized fields of study are out there, Redditor GazelleHistorical705 asked:

"What is the most ridiculous college major you’ve ever heard of?"

Majors with one word, please.

Sounds Like A Hard Major

"PENIS. My school offered a major in Political Economy of Newly Industrialized Societies, but eventually realized the acronym and changed the name. Pity. I hope some were able to get their degrees with a concentration in PENIS."

– OhMaiMai

Hidden Objective

"Golf."

"It was made so the Vice Chancellor could buy a private golf course for the university, so he could play on it. I believe it had 5 enrollments ever, and one was a joke that didnt show up or pay. It got cancelled the first year, but he got to enjoy his own personal golf course for some years after."

jadelink88

Just Throwing Ideas

"Frisbee. A friends roommate at Amherst was in some kind of 'create your own major' thing and chose frisbee. His family had momey and college was just a formality."

– hightower65

Certain concepts as a major were hard to grasp.

Seed Of Despotism

"IIRC, like 20 years ago some college in Indiana offered a major in World Domination."

– Rev_Christopheles

"You can only get a job as a henchman with a BS."

"You need a full PhD to be an evil mastermind."

– JimBean823

A Vague Focus

"PhD in general studies."

– dravik

"Tf do you even write your dissertation about."

– Fragile_Line

"Everything."

– ProsciuttoPizza

"Generally."

– cropguru357

Let's Take It Outside

"An old friend has a Bachelor's degree in Outdoor Activities. He was never able to explain exactly what that meant, though."

– EnlargedBit371

"A guy I know majored in Recreation."

– kmsc87

"When I was there, my college had one of the top Parks Recreation and Tourism Management (PRTM) programs in the country."

"It had the nickname 'Party Right Through May.'”

"It was extremely popular with student athletes, especially football players."

"There’s always a demand for graduates too. It seems like one of those fields where you shouldn’t need a college degree to do the work, but you need one to get in the door."

– JimBeam823

Going At Your Own Pace

"When I was in uni my friend dated a guy who was majoring in leisure studies. I used to joke that leisure studies is a 4 year program, but if you’re good enough at it you can do it in 6."

– Mtldoggogogo

Things went up a notch.

Arghhh Ya Kiddin' Me?

"At MIT you can be certified in being a pirate if you complete the courses of pistol, archery, sailing, and fencing."

– yhdreytaweatrst

"It’s not a major, it’s a certificate. But if I ever get my own office it’s going in a very nice diploma frame and I’m gonna see who notices."

– PoorCorrelation

Veritable Hodgepodge

"My university had an Interdisciplinary Studies department that served mainly to get super duper seniors graduated. They would cobble together the random credits people got because they changed majors every semester into a 'degree.' You get some wild majors like a BA in Culinary Traditions and Music in the Former British Empire."

– pinelands1901

Sapphic Education

"My college briefly had a major in Nordic Lesbianism."

– WhizzleTeabags

"I've read many of the responses on here where most of them weren't ridiculous imo but you gave the best one!"

– 90DayTroll

"HUH."

– OP

Make It Up

"At a graduation at the University of Redlands. They have a degree whereby you basically take the classes you want and call it what you want."

"The degree conferred was, I kid you not: 'Still trying to figure out who I am.'”

– dmur726

Clearly there's a major for all occasions.

But at the end of the day, does it really matter as long as you have a BA in something to show you were academically tenacious?

Now go out there and carve out your own path, young scholars!

Just make sure you can pay off those student loans.

Maybe there should be a major on how to avoid debt.

human robot illustration

Possessed Photography on Unsplash

Artificial intelligence (AI) is defined as:

"the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making and translation between languages."

AI is broken down into four types—from most basic to most advanced:

  1. Reactive machines
  2. Limited memory
  3. Theory of mind
  4. Self-awareness

The first two—reactive machines and limited memory—currently exist.

Reactive machines AI have no memory—it responds directly to current information. An example is a recommendation based on your streaming activity.

Limited memory looks into the past and monitors specific objects or situations over time, and adds the information to adapt responses. Self-driving cars are a good example of limited memory AI.

The other types—theory of mind and self-awareness—don't exist yet.

Theory of mind AI would be able to understand intentions and predict behavior while adjusting its own responses, simulating human interpersonal relationships.

The final step in AI is self-awareness. These would be systems that have a sense of self, a conscious understanding of their existence.

As AI advances, some human work functions will be done cheaper or more efficiently by AI.

Keep reading...Show less
man and woman holding hands

Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

According to the General Social Survey, 20% of married men and 13% of married women reported having sex with someone other than their spouse.

In the United States, 17% of all divorces cited adultery on the part of either or both parties.

But 70% of married women and 54% of married men reported they didn't know of their spouses’ extramarital affair until their spouse confessed.

And how did the other 30%-46% figure it out?

Keep reading...Show less

I was very fortunate that my parents were able to pay all expensive not only through adolescence but even through college. However, they made it very clear that once I graduated, I was on my own.

I made every effort to make sure I could afford to live once I graduated. I made copies of all the recipes my parents got when they bought stuff for me, and started saving my own receipts, something I didn't do through high school. I calculated monthly expenses and created a budget for the future.

When I graduated, I had accounted for all the big expenses: take-out food, the expensive skin care essentials I needed to keep my acne at bay, and utilities (heat, AC, electricity).

What I didn't realize was that small expenses are not so small. Microwavable meals went up by $2. Gas, which was pretty steady while I was in college, seemed to shoot up daily. And things that don't seem expensive at first glance, such as toilet paper, become big expenses as they add up.

I'm not the only one who had these realizations. Redditors have too, and are eager to share what items they didn't realize were expensive until they became an adult.

It all started when Redditor ForeignReviews asked:

"What item did you not realize was expensive until you became an adult?"

Yummy, Yummy

"Food is both more expensive and goes bad quicker when you're an adult."

– BriSnyScienceGuy

"I know right! I honestly love grocery shopping, so when I started driving I would go grocery shopping when I had the car and so nowadays I do maybe half of the grocery shopping. But, it's just so expensive. I often look for deals and will buy generic/store brand on most items but, still."

"My biggest tip for "goes bad quicker" is to always get from the back, because usually that's where the longer lasting stuff goes and when it's stacked, get from the bottom. When it's stuff with longer shelf life like cereal and canned stuff, I don't usually bother. But I mostly do that with bread and dairy products. My mom taught me that when I was little."

– ariana61104

"Yes! Having to feed yourself and your household is getting too expensive and so tedious. I really admire my mom for making dinner every night when I was growing up. Thankfully I don't have kids so me & my husband are okay with just eating snacks sometimes."

– WildMoonWitch

So Sweet

"My parents split up when I was a kid in the 90s, and I remember going to my dads apartment in another city, and him cooking us steak on the grill. I always loved that."

"Once I moved out I was like "wait steak is how much? Why the hell did Dad keep feeding us this?""

"Then I realised he was eating poverty meals all week to treat his kids on the weekend."

"For his 60th birthday us kids pooled our money and took him to arguably the best fine dining restaurant in my province for the full tasting menu. Seeing him light up at trying things like caviar and truffles for the first time made me realize how much he has sacrificed for us."

"So yeah, steak is expensive."

– KFBass

"You guys are awesome; what a nice story. He raised y'all right."

– Augustus58

Where Do I Sit?

"Gotta be furniture."

– harrisrichard

"When I bought my house I only had a bed in the master bedroom and all my friends kept saying “you make good money just buy furniture, you could have it furnished in a month.” Then they themselves bought houses and now understand why it took me a year to furnish my house."

– Stetikhasnotalent

They Don't Need To Be That Nice!

"Rugs. Why did no one tel me a ‘nice’ rug was $18,000."

– BenSadfleck

"But it really ties the room together."

– alittlec4

"Dude, you could fly to Morocco and get a hand made wool rug for that much. What the heck are you buying?"

– mofukkinbreadcrumbz

"My dog isn’t going to want to butt scoot on anything cheaper than 10k."

– iamaliberalpausenot

Car Accessories

"New tires. Most unexciting $1,000 purchases I have ever made."

– PRCraig

"Also why the hell are oil changes so expensive now!?"

– johnstonb

"Bro fr I swear they were just $20 just a second ago now it’s like $60?? I asked my dad to teach me how to do it myself as a teen and he said it was so cheap that I might as well pay someone else. That didn’t last."

– greeneggiwegs

Walk It Off

"A good pair of shoes will set you back a bit, especially if you need more specialized ones for whatever reason."

– sedition-

Part Of The Family

"Pets."

– TeacherLady3

"They have gotten a lot more expensive due to expected care changing dramatically, and how we feel about them."

"The idea that you would put a pet down because a vet treatment costs too much is horrible now, but was pretty common in the past. Outdoor cats were the norm so they pretty much fed themselves and you had far fewer litter changes - litter was just clay, and you tossed the whole thing."

"Dogs ate table scraps and whatever they hunted down, or cheap as dog feed made of whatever ended up on the slaughter house floor (bones and all)."

"While purebreds were probably still super expensive, most people had a mutt or tabby, that the found/were given, instead of buying."

– RandomChance

"All true. But I waited until I was in my 50's and had raised my kids until I could afford a pet. Like kids, I wasn't going to be a pet owner until I could provide the care they deserve."

– TeacherLady3

The Cost Of People

"Kids."

"I'm amazed how my parents could afford me."

– only_stupid_answers

"My parents had 5 of us. It amazes me to this day, that my fathers paultry salary at the time had to support it all. How the f**k could anyone do that today?"

– The_REAL_McWeasel

Vroom, Vroom

"Cars, all grown-ups had them, maybe even multiple. I still think its insane that some cars are more expensive than a 2 bedroom apartment."

Tommer_nl

"I remember people restoring cars all the time when I was growing up. I would love to do it but even a rough condition rolling rust is super expensive now for even common things people aren’t super after."

Pup5432

"Yeah what the hell!? I feel like everyone's dad (mine included) had a project car that they were tinkering with."

"All of my 'tinkering' is to keep my single, daily driver running!"

disisathrowaway

Shiny Teeth And Me

"My teeth."

– Bumfuzzled_Hobgoblin

"Teeth are luxury bones, don’t ya know? Why on earth would regular health insurance cover them? Hahaha. The fact that vision and dental are separate from the rest of your body is absurd."

– Blackfoxx907

I See You!

"Glasses. I have awful eyesight and an astigmatism and got quite a shock when I had to pay for my own prescription glasses for the first time."

– Heavy_Mycologist_104

Time Flies

"Free time."

"As a kid I had loads of it and gave it away. now I can't afford even a minute !!"

– TokenFeed

"I took a toll road home today for an extra hour of free time and it was the best money I ever spent."

– squidkiosk

What I wouldn't give -- or pay -- for some extra free time!