Beseen internet chatrooms, ICQ, every website was someone’s personal project, they just made it for fun. Yahoo messenger pool games and online chess. Php message boards and the communities that formed around those.

The early internet was so slow that everything was text based. Talking to other people was the primary form of interaction and nothing was really monetized. Everything was just there because it was nerd shit and people found homes, and communities, and belonging. It was real world values on a screen, not the influencer driven, 30sec video affiliate links shallow, corporate conglomerate that it is now.

That’s why I appreciate the fediverse. It feels like real people just playing with technology and talking to each other.