• 1984@lemmy.today
    6·
    1 hour ago

    I had an icq number in the 184000 range. :) Bragging rights!

    Every time this topic comes up, I feel very nostalgic. Of course the tech was not as good, but the internet was free of big tech.

    I was using netscape as my first web browser.

    • UPGRAYEDD@lemmy.world
      4·
      51 minutes ago

      I have a 5 digit steam ID, made on the 3rd day steam existed. Back when we all hated the concept of it.

  • SuspciousCarrot78@lemmy.world
    7·
    1 hour ago

    ICQ? Listen here, young man.

    I grew up in outback Australia, in the before times. My first time online was a 1200-baud modem on a BBC Electron.

    We did school over HF radio with School of the Air, had no phone lines, and barely reliable electricity.

    Do not speak to me of the deep magics. I was there when they were written.

    double biceps flex

    farts

    breaks a hip

  • Treczoks@lemmy.world
    1·
    2 hours ago

    ICQ number? Newfangled stuff. BITNET TALK rulez. I wonder if anybody here has ever heard of BITNET…

  • absGeekNZ@lemmy.nzEnglish
    9·
    4 hours ago

    I remember trying to play online quake in the 90’s, I live in new Zealand… We had dial up, my latency was around the 5s mark. I have up pretty quick.

    If I wanted to play multiplayer games, it was taking my desktop computer to a friends house, connecting them together with 10Mb BNC networking, and don’t forget the 50ohm terminators.

    A friend spent a week trying to download the original pirated version on XP, the couple of hundred meg file would get stopped for various reasons.

    I have my full name as a gmail account, I got it as soon as it possible. [email protected]

  • ClownStatue@piefed.socialEnglish
    19·
    5 hours 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
    12·
    5 hours 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
      5·
      4 hours 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
        3·
        2 hours 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.

        • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.world
          1·
          29 minutes 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!

        • moonshadow@slrpnk.net
          3·
          2 hours 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!

  • glorkon@lemmy.world
    9·
    5 hours ago

    My ICQ was 1428816.

    And when young people ask me if I ever play multi-player games… my dude, I played the first one. Midimaze on Atari ST.

  • FauxPseudo @lemmy.world
    5·
    4 hours 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.

  • ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.oneEnglish
    17·
    6 hours 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
      1·
      2 hours 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.