>>23226937>>23226941Yup.
The memory grows more distant, but there was a time when the experience was better because fewer things catered to normies, ego farming wasn't a thing (even forum/IRC clout farmers were generally anonymous beyond nicknames), and the marketing industry saw the Internet as a sort of secondary field at best.
Because of this, there was very loose moderation, and way fewer guardrails. Same as how back in the day leaving one's door unlocked was not unheard of in civilized society. Most places you went to were built because someone wanted to make a cool thing and show it to others.
Even if Google was already well-established, you still had a lot to find just by following links from one place to the other, they didn't all lead back to central places. Monopolies were rare, so it was a lot easier to flesh out a small idea and see genuine interest in it without getting drowned by the sea of noise.
It's all over now and I'm not sure we'll ever see anything like it again in our lifetimes at least, but I'm grateful I got to witness the early days.
