Can you describe about how weirder? since I join the internet back in 2009. So, don't know prior that years.
Discussion
oh yeah, it was waaaay more heterogeneous. I think around mid 2000s is when things started becoming super normalized, but websites used to have much weirder looks, content felt much more genuine and communities had much more honesty to them.
It's hard to convey, but there was a much wider variety across both aesthetics and content.
I still remember when AlbinoBlackSheep celebrated “epilepsy week” when they published tons of flash animations of blinking colors and lights. Try flying that now. I’m pretty sure someone went to jail for tweeting one of those to a journo.
💯 I remember following photoshop tutorials to make neon banners with realistic fire effects and water droplets for angelfire pages.
I think MySpace preserved some of the weirdness but it died when google/Twitter/Facebook became the portal to the internet for the masses.
Bring back Geocities over Nostr!
IRCs, webrings, personal pages, obscure FTP and BBS sites. Everything because it was fragmented. Nowadays discussions and content only happen within the rails of what big tech allows.
FTPing into friends' servers and seeing what's up and into what kind of obscure shit they had been reading was such a cool feeling
all of those things still exist, and are used, and are fun. but some people seem unwilling to do anything anymore unless everyone else does it first. obscurity is terrifying to those who crave the company and acceptance of the mob