• doctor0710@lemmy.zip
      0·
      2 months ago

      Ooh, Australia, I have a question. Was PalTalk a big thing over there? Obviously way after what you described. I remember my father having an old classmate over from Australia and he introduced us to “The Internet”, and how instant messaging was possible a cross borders through PalTalk. Even though I never heard anyone using it in Europe, even years past that encounter.

  • YoiksAndAway@piefed.zipEnglish
    1·
    2 months ago

    I’ve known adventures, seen places you people will never see, I’ve been on university work terminals and back… frontiers! I’ve stood on the back deck of Usenet bound for Mosaic with sweat in my eyes watching Netscape Navigator fight on the shoulder of the internet… I’ve felt wind in my hair, riding Lynx off of monochrome monitors and seen usegroups burn like a match and disappear. I’ve seen it, felt it…!

    • DagwoodIII@piefed.socialEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      Saw it on an episode of MASH.

      Henry is dating a 22 year old nurse. Hawkeye tells Henry that Henry has bunions older than his girlfriend.

    • doug@lemmy.todayEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      My Reddit account was 19 years old before I was permabanned by their stupid AI for liking Luigi pics and saying I wish Trump wouldn’t wake up in response to a pic of him napping 😔

  • rozodru@piefed.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    18982172 here.

    Fun fact. ICQ was the the go to messaging platform for the porn industry and was actively being used in the industry right up to the point it was bought by a russian company.

  • ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.oneEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    Adobe flash games and adobe flash videos. Beige computers. Monochrome monitors. Trackball mice. DOS. The original Doom. Newgrounds. Joe Cartoon, Killfrog, and Stickdeath. Napster and Limewire. Geocities. Forums for days. Browser games like Utopia.

    • elucubra@sopuli.xyz
      0·
      2 months ago

      I think you are referring to ball mice. Trackball are still in use and development, and are the preferred weapon for knowledgeable gurus, like me.

      I used to admin a small campus, where we had 3 computer rooms. Kids (college) stole the balls.

      I ended up buying a couple hundred of (then) expensive “laser” mice, because it ws cheaper than throwing away half the neutered mice each semester.

  • FauxPseudo @lemmy.world
    0·
    2 months ago

    66618055 I kept putting off getting on. I was online on the CompuServe days before Prodigy or AOL. I had three different places to access the internet back in 1992. My catchphrase is “I am from the internet. I’m here to help.” I deeply miss Usenet.

  • ClownStatue@piefed.socialEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    If you bought your dial-up internet from your local newspaper, there’s a pretty good chance I was doing tech support for it.

  • WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.todayEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    Yeah, seems there is a belief that past a certain age, you should have zero fun, be nothing but a wage slave, and die somewhere quietly, where no one will see what fate awaits you.

    Well, I happen to think minors especially should not have access to social media, or at least somehow have minor only social media.

    Prevents them interacting with predators, getting brainrotted, and most importantly: leaves us with more mature people to interact with.

    • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.world
      0·
      2 months ago

      I initially like the idea of a minor-siloed internet, but damn if the predators aren’t going to congregate there too (eg roblox) so I’m not out sure what the answer is

      • elucubra@sopuli.xyz
        0·
        2 months ago

        Same here, but I believe that those savvy enough should be getting into the conversation, instead of sneering at the ignorant lawmakers.

        It’s a tough problem that should be handled by interdisciplinary panels, and then coded into law in a non partisan way, instead of knee jerk legislation with the only intent of getting votes.

        What we have right now is “War on drugs” shit.

        • moonshadow@slrpnk.net
          0·
          2 months ago

          What we have right now are fascist surveillance states leveraging both outrage against predatory tech companies and the protective instinct we feel for our children to lock down our communications network by pinning all users to a real world identity. Wheeee!

        • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.world
          0·
          2 months ago

          See that’s the thing, I was with it, uh, 20 years ago? I feel like all I can add is interpretation at the interdisciplinary panels so the lawyers can understand what the techs are saying.

          Best way to do it I think would be to have a State (federal/state/local I don’t care) issued digital ID. You can put the ID app in your phone and on your computer. If you’re over 18, it can send an “I’m over 18” token that doesn’t identify you, just says you’re over 18. The token handshakes with whatever state ID database it needs to to verify you are an adult on your device once and then it’s a verified token. Now your device can check it has a verified token whenever it needs and you never need to send out identifying info.

          As far as keeping the rest of your PII private, idk I’m not a security dude but I’m sure there are ways. But I remember a kind Dane (I think? Maybe a Finn. Memory like a rusty sieve these days) telling me about their digital IDs and how they were connected to their bank account and government services and shit and in an ideal world where you can trust your government that would be pretty neat. By the time they get something like that built here in statesia who knows? We might almost have one!

      • lastlybutfirstly@lemmy.world
        0·
        2 months ago

        We’re suffering from pedomania right now, seeing pedos under every bed but it’s actually a rare thing. If you have an astronomical number of children online it’s going to “feel” like they’re in danger of falling prey to predators. Especially with the modern expanded definition of pedo where every freshman dating a senior is the victim of a grooming predator.

        But if we want zero tolerance, the best thing to do is to promote parental controls. And if we want to get draconian about it, then charge parents with negligence if their kids become victims because the parents weren’t using parental controls.

    • NottaLottaOcelot@lemmy.caEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      I remember my grandmother telling me a story about the fact that the most romantic vacation of her life was a cross-country train trip sharing a tiny cabin with my grandfather. They were in their seventies - she was a breast cancer survivor and he had some heart health issues beginning. And yet still, they cackled with laughter trying to get changed together and share an itty bitty bed.

      When we are young we seem to instinctively feel that old people enjoying each other is cringeworthy, and that them being romantic is gross. But really, wouldn’t we all want that for ourselves as we age? The voice in our heads never ages, so why would our hopes for joy and connection go awat?

  • ...m...@ttrpg.network
    0·
    2 months ago

    …yeah, come back after you’ve pulse-dialed an acoustic coupler at 300 baud to network your terminal emulator with a shell account, kid…