this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2025
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[–] bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 days ago (3 children)

I've been wondering how we can build a new underground net that is just the internet of 2002, but with more bandwidth. Somewhere normies can't access easily and with a bad ui so they don't want to.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 15 points 3 days ago (4 children)

What kind of revisionist bullshit is this?

Like, it's almost always safe to write off anyone using "normies" but do you think 2002 was like in movies/TV?

"The net" wasn't some secret thing, kids had been using it in school for over a decade.

I can't tell if you weren't born then or already 50 years old...

But wherever you're getting your opinions on 2002 internet, it wasn't first hand

[–] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 23 points 3 days ago (2 children)

As a 50-something, I can see the case for putting the “golden age” of the internet between the birth of Wikipedia in 2001 and Facebook in 2006.

[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 13 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I’d expand it a bit further. Maybe 1999 to 2009. While Facebook did exist towards the end there, everyone’s grandmother wasn’t on it yet and they weren’t entirely intrusive and walled gardened. Forums still existed. Search engines still returned good results.
But it was the beginning of what would come. After 2009 it went downhill fast.

[–] bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 days ago

You're totally right

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 points 2 days ago

About the same time reddit starting making inroads and googles collusion

Pre-Facebook as the endpoint, sure. But mid- to late-90s was pretty cool, too.

[–] chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It’s just nostalgia applied to the internet. Some people call it Eternal September. Everyone prefers what the internet was when they first discovered it and hate what it’s become since then. I remember the internet from 1996 most fondly. Many prefer it from the 80s or earlier 90s. This is no different from other media: music, TV, movies.

Of course this is separate from the real issue which is the consolidation and silo-ification of the modern web.

[–] balder1991@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago

Yeah, the best is never going to be “now”, which is always drown in uncertainty and chaos. When you look back, everything looks safe and deterministic.

[–] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Punch the Monkey, Shake the Tree, Bonzi Buddy, flash animation, sites that only worked in IE, etc, etc.

You're right, anyone who thinks 2002 was some golden age of the internet clearly wasn't there.

[–] bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

As what was said below, it was kind of a golden age. It was usable by normal people but still pretty novel to most. And it was a while before corporations ruined it. I lived through it so I can confirm it was better in most ways, besides speeds. I should say, 05 would be a better choice.

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Kagi has a “small web” filter that brings this back to an extent.

[–] neblem@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Marginalia.nu does too with similar additonal filters like Tildeverse and Forums.

[–] balder1991@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago

Marginalia should be one of the most important things to preserve, in a similar importance to Wikipedia.