Millennials and older folks have been reminiscing about the early internet days, before social media and ads took over everything. Specifically, one Redditor asked them to recall 1991 to 2009—the time before modern social media sites changed the online landscape.
“People who used the internet between 1991 and 2009, what’s the most memorable online trend or phenomenon you remember?” asked u/Original_Act_3481 in November.
Much of that time occurred before even MySpace arrived on the scene, which was technically a social networking site but much more contained, with no function designed to thrust the opinions of strangers into your face at all possible moments. It was a quieter internet, beset by a bizarre humor made possible by pure creativity.
The only way anybody had found to monetize a website back then was with simple ads, often in the form of banners and pop-up windows. While these could be a nuisance, they were all obviously ads, with no “sponsored content” or “influencers” in sight. Nobody was making money from MySpace unless they were doing something illegal.
With few monetary incentives, people made content out of love. Everyone could make their own terrible Geocities website for free on any subject they wanted, and we did. Instant messaging and chatrooms allowed you to socialize with friends and strangers, and discourse was contained to topical message boards.
People made and shared free wacky videos and games. Google was AI-free and even ad-free, its only goal to deliver exactly what you asked for. It was a better time, and worth revisiting alongside the many Reddit commenters on this thread.
1. Friend online noise
“The sound of a door opening when someone came on AIM. Still gives me a little dopamine rush when I hear it.” —u/jdc1206
2. The way forums used to be
“I miss actual forums. They still exist, but never as lively as they were in the early 2000s and many of them were shut down years ago.” —u/dertechie
3. Free websites dedicated to exactly what you want
“Back then, you could Google something like ‘James Bond Movie ranker,’ And there would be a website that all it did was let you rank James Bond movies. For free. And that was the whole website.”
“This is completely lost on the internet now.” —u/Spade18
4. Stumbleupon
“It was like crack cocaine at the time: hit the button and get a new, random but curated website.
I’d say the doom scrolling of today can be traced back to that little button on the taskbar in Windows 2000!” —u/thomosan1
5. No monetary motivation
“People who were passionate about subjects, hobbies and interests that created content not motivated by monetization, subscribers or recognition. Just anonymous users creating amazing content just because they wanted to and were passionate about it. It was beautiful!” —u/Morejazzplease
6. Webpage guestbooks
“Many websites had a signage section (guestbook) where you could sign, put your name, and say you visited their site. I also remember websites had a count of how many people had visited them.” —u/JA-868
7. Chatrooms
“I remember having great debates and conversations and mutual interests with people. A few times people went out of their way to supply me with inside information of some industry that helped me solve a niche issue in minutes rather than weeks.”
“I haven’t felt that good faith comradery online in a long time.” —u/DigNitty
8. Free Flash games
“Free online flash games and videos powered by the now extinct flash player software. New grounds, kongregate, free online games, and so many other websites.” —u/Stunning_Repair_7483
9. All those free AOL disks
“Free month of AOL from disks they gave out everywhere with everything. We didn’t pay for Internet until dsl came to our neighborhood.” —u/a_man_in_black
10. When viral videos were more like home movies
“When funny viral videos felt genuine. Now it’s all cringe and staged.” —u/–Rick–Astley–
11. Website view counters
“I remember when web pages often had a little counter that showed number of views. I think it was typically 4 digits long.” —u/KE55
12. When Amazon was only an online bookstore
“In 1995 I was buying a lot of books from a new, online bookstore called Amazon. Jeff Bezos sent me a coffee mug and hand-signed letter as a thank you.” —u/Awalawal
13. ASCII Art
“It’s still around here and there, but it used to be super prominent before the internet could handle a lot of photos. The GameFAQs walkthroughs with beautifully done ASCII art recreations of game logos are still amazing to behold.” —u/Neuroticaine
14. The vast emptiness of it all
“The wildest part was how empty it felt compared to now. You’d just sit there on dial up, slowly loading some random fan page or forum, and it felt like finding a secret room in a huge abandoned building. No algorithms, no feeds, just you, a search box, and whatever weird corner you stumbled into.” —u/Aggravating_Soup4160
15. Videos without ads
“YouTube with no ads. I have no clue how they made money, but man was it nice.” —u/jtbis
16. When the internet was truly social
“When people were actually social online. Chat room, people just sitting and shooting the shit in MMOs, making meaningful friendships.” —u/MostCat2899
17. The Alt + F4 gag
“Tricking people into pressing Alt+F4. The fact no one else has said it makes me wonder if less people fell for it than I thought.” —u/-DoctorSpaceman-
18. Weird eternally looping Flash videos
“Badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, mushroom, mushroom.”
“Snake! It’s a snake!” —u/Few_Zookeepergame105
19. Chain emails
“I was just telling my kid yesterday about how I had to send an email to 12 people or I’d have bad luck for eternity.” —u/killerkitten61
20. When Google was good
“I miss typing something into Google and having pages and pages of unique content. People’s blogs, personal websites, unique forums. Now it’s all just the same social media platforms for pages.” —u/mynameisnotthename
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