No. Only very selective people joined message boards. The rest were on AOL or compact. You’re taking a very select group of.people and expecting the Facebook and iPad generations to be able to do that. Not going to happen. I also noticed some people below talking about things like geocities and other minor free hosting and publishing site that are all gone now. They’re not coming back.
Comment on Black Mirror AI
Wilco@lemm.ee 4 weeks agoNope. That isn’t how it worked. You joined message boards that had lists of web links. There were still search engines, but they were pretty localized. Google was also amazing when their slogan was “don’t be evil” and they meant it.
Zexks@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Wilco@lemm.ee 4 weeks ago
Yep, those things were so rarely used … sure. You are forgetting that 99% of people knew nothing about computers when this stuff came out, but people made themselves learn. It’s like comparing Reddit and Twitter to a federated alternative.
Also, something like geocities could easily make a comeback if the damn corporations would stop throwing dozens of pop-ups, banners, and sidescrolls on everything.
Zexks@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
And 99% of people today STILL don’t know anything about computers. Go ask those same people simply “what is a file” they won’t know. Lmao. Geocities could come back if corporations stop advertising. Do you even hear yourself.
zanyllama52@infosec.pub 4 weeks ago
I was there. People carried physical notepads with URLs, shared them on BBS’, or other forums. It was wild.
i_love_FFT@jlai.lu 4 weeks ago
There was also “circle banners” of websites that would link to each others… And then off course “stumble upon”…
zanyllama52@infosec.pub 4 weeks ago
Yes! Web rings!
Wilco@lemm.ee 4 weeks ago
I forgot web rings! Also the crazy all centered Geocities websites people made. The internet was an amazing place before the major corporations figured it out.