/r/ - miscellaneous

>>249

Most people here are way too young to have used bbs's back in the day (me included) but interestingly enough, they're still around, with active communities on them

Point is; a year or two ago, I decided to check a few out, and they were great

My favorite part about them was that some had big archives with old files from the 80s and 90s still available for download

In there you could find warez, porn and text files of all kinds, which I personally found, for some reason, to be very cute to rummage through

There was this one file that was named something like "BBS lingo", which had written explanations about the different types of abbreviations people where accustomed to seeing and using on the daily when talking to other users. It's cool to see how some of the terms most people use nowadays where common even back then, and how some others have died entirely as time has passed

Maybe all of this doesn't exactly fall under the category of tale, but I still think that it is, at the very least, a very cool experience all arisu's should try at least once

I dunno, I don't really have anything specific. I don't have any stories like, "I saw The Who at Woodstock and this girl I was going with tripped too hard on acid and vomited all over my boots." Maybe my memory's just fucky but being a passenger on the internet felt like alot of little moments adding up to one experience, but nothing that sticks out to me as something I could tell my kids or brag about in the bar to cement my oldhead cred.

What I remember the most was the feeling moreso than any one event. The internet felt strange and almost magical. Like you were accessing another world of strange possibilities where 'the rules' didn't apply. Where you met strange and interesting people and found knowledge and art that you never thought could have existed. Nowadays the world doesn't feel distinct from the internet, especially since everyone uses their real name online. Going out into the real world feels like taking a refreshing break from the internet.

Anyways, enough "back in my day" shit, I'm gonna try to think up some specific events which honestly only really have any value for me. Alot of video game stuff since that's where alot of my internet time went. I used to play on this tf2 server called The Cellar Door Crew. They ran a few cool custom maps. Toyfort was a 5cp map that stuck out in my mind. The really weird custom maps where there wasn't an objective and you just explored and discovered secrets were my jam. I spent alot of time in the source modding scene in general, although my own attempts at game development were a few mediocre tf2 maps. SS13 was also a game I spent alot of time playing. I did alot of medical doctoring since, I dunno, I found it fun. It goes from zero to "oh shit" when some accident happens in engineering and you need to fix multiple people at once. Or do complicated surgeries. You could also just throw people in the cryopod if you're feeling lazy. Also hung around in the Mega Man community alot. I was more of an X/Zero guy (compared to Battle Network, which was the big thing) so it was kind of slower paced for me. And alot of wallpaper collecting. I had a HUGE collection on my old, now broken computer. Alot of cyberpunk-themed art since that's what I was really into (still am, just not as intense, I'd say) Honestly, that's kind of what the internet mostly was for me: hanging out with people to discuss niche and weird things, and playing games. And downloading warez. Alot of pirated anime and niche books that I'd otherwise have to pay out the ass to get, and when you're a kid, or even in your mid 20's and broke working a dead-end job, that's a bit much to ask. I also probably wouldn't have discovered alot of my favourite shows, movies, or music if I didn't have access to the internet, either.

People were superb fucking weird on Discord and then everyone died, the end.