To say that I was thrilled when I saw this week’s Seriously Geeky Sundays topic is a huge understatement. I am excited to go down memory lane with this one–even if it reveals just how old I truly am. It doesn’t feel like it was that long ago that I was hanging out in chat rooms discussing the Backstreet Boys or logging into Angelfire to update my website.
14th March – The World Wide Web of Us
Way back in 1989 on March 12th Sir Timothy Berners-Lee invented the internet. We all started our journey on the World Wide Web at different times, and while we’ve each had unique experiences we’ve all ended up in the same place; right here reading these prompts! Join in celebrating the anniversary of the internet by sharing your answers this week
When did you first start using the internet?
Personal computers were still evolving and were just becoming widely available to the general public when I was a teenager. Back then households had one computer. Yes, just one.
We got Internet at home when I was a Junior in high school, but I didn’t use it regularly until we moved and I started going to a different school. I remember feeling lost as I sat down in front of a computer in Computer Lab and asking the girl next to me how she found all those pictures of the backstreet boys on hers. By the end of that period, I was an expert in all things Yahoo search and JPEGs.
What nostalgic things do you remember from your early days of the internet? (Example)
We were all in the same boat of discovering this new and unexplored technology. We collectively felt a mixture of awe, a deep longing for knowledge, endless quests to gather as much information as you could on your favorite topic, and wondering where that new friend you made in the chat room was from.
If you found an awesome website, you wrote down the url, brought it to class, and shared it with your friends or you added it to your favorite links on your website (everyone had a links page back then).
With that being said, I have to go with Yahoo, Angelfire, Geocities, and chat rooms. I liked finding themed rooms to talk about all the teeny-bopper stuff I was into back then.
How long have you been blogging?
Off and on since I created my first web page, Mishkin’s World. It was your standard 90s mess of midi players, animated gifs, repeating backgrounds, and text (I remember a lot of people would turn their sites into journals and diaries before the term blogging became popular). Sadly, I could not find Mishkin’s World on Wayback Machine. I did, however, find the second site I made, Mishi’s Sanitarium.
Before your eyes gaze upon the horror that are these screencaps, I must fully warn you of the cringe; the absolute and utter chaos coupled with bad fanart. Click to view full size. And yes, I plan to redraw “Wolf Master” and the emo crying girl.
Did you ever belong to any online fan clubs or message boards?
You bet! If it had to do with the Backstreet Boys or Sailor Moon, I was there. I frequented Save Our Sailors all the time (SOS was a Sailor Moon fansite dedicated to not canceling the show and airing all of the seasons in the US).
What are your favourite sites on the internet?
Oh how times have changed. If you had asked me in 1999, I’d have listed specific urls, but now? I mostly just use social media like Facebook and Twitter. I don’t have a favorite site anymore, but if I had to pick one, I’ll go with YouTube. I get so much use out of that site. There are so many helpful tutorials, documentaries, time killers (ha ha), and great stuff to play in the background when I draw on there.
Do you have any geeky online stores to share with us?
Oh goodness, yes! A group of us back in high school thought we were the most badass hackers on the planet because we could get into the library computers and change the backgrounds. I mean, we all had seen Hackers, and suddenly Hackerman!
