Good lord, that picture with the 5000 wires is insane. I wonder what the process was for them to scrap that mess and start putting in trunk lines to different areas of the city.

They way they implemented that definitely suggests they have no trust or respect for their users, especially for cases were content was mistakenly flagged. Many users make hundreds of posts a day and honestly don’t remember what was in a post.

I used to administer a large vBulletin forum about 15 years ago, and when I had to suspend a user I definitely included the content of what they posted so they understood what was not tolerated. I mean that’s basic common sense 101… assuming they’re not getting the message, you have to show them why if you’re allowing them to continue participating.

I’ve been around since the early 1980s on BBSs. I think what OP is describing is gopher:// links which were common in the early 1990s. I recall getting news and music tablature that way, but like others said it was boring and there wasn’t much else.

To me, 1996 to 2005 was the peak of the Internet experience, especially in the early 2000s when content was increasing. Big business was still oblivious about it, and little forums were able to truly thrive on their own without being on a billion dollar platform.

Web 2.0 was when it all went to shit. I remember the look when it was happening… every website went to white webpages, tons of white space, big-ass sans serif fonts, rounded buttons, and very little actual content, just minimalist screens everywhere. Every website was doing it. I knew at the time that this was symbolic of the vacuousness of the coming Internet.