Discussion Sasu reminds me of the old internet

[theangelswept]

Coming here is always so liberating and nice. A website where people have a common interest and can talk freely about it for the most part. I mean the old internet used to be all about this sort of thing in the 90s and 00s. Its really comforting that there is still places that haven't been absorbed by Twitter or Facebook or whatever. I miss bouncing around a bunch of digital islands getting to talk to all my internet weirdo friends. Also everyone here is so nice to talk to, I think people really are more gentle and kind amd considerate when like talking about this kinda stuff and its just a nice break from the shallow types of conversations you see other places. I love it here a lot and I wish there was more forums like this. Thank you sasu!

 

[cemeteryismyhome]

I agree 1000%! I like how you called it "the old internet". Originally it was, as you said, so different. I remember before corporations and lawyers and profit got involved... when in the news there would be articles saying it's probably not going to last long because hardly anyone uses it. It was free, open, didn't try to manipulate people for money and power... I could go on about the good old days, but yeah, thank you sasu!

 

[theangelswept]

I agree 1000%! I like how you called it "the old internet". Originally it was, as you said, so different. I remember before corporations and lawyers and profit got involved... when in the news there would be articles saying it's probably not going to last long because hardly anyone uses it. It was free, open, didn't try to manipulate people for money and power... I could go on about the good old days, but yeah, thank you sasu!

They should make a new internet maybe through a tor browser type system that makes it difficult or impossible for bots to access and totally unprofitable to corpos. Idk much about internet technology but I think it would be nice to make the internet more human :3

 

[Spite]

I feel very much the same way. SaSu is the place I am most active on on the entire Internet right now. This place is one of the only places where I have ever felt like I've truly "belonged", and I've struggled to fit in pretty much everywhere throughout my life both online and IRL. It's somewhat comforting to me seeing a lot of people who I feel I can relate to, even if we're all struggling and suffering. Makes me realise I'm not alone in the way I feel.

I'd say forums in 2025 (almost 2026) are mostly dead, though some are still around and are thriving with activity just like this very site. Most of the Internet now is centralised into a dozen or so giant websites. Reddit and Facebook groups seem to be the biggest culprits in killing off the forums that used to flourish on the Internet in the 90s/2000s/early 2010s. It really feels like something changed around the mid-2010s, like the Internet put on its business suit and became very corporate and sanitised and now all these years later much of the Internet has become... smaller, in a way. There's certainly more people using the Internet now compared to 10 years ago but it definitely feels like there are less individual online communities to explore. It's sad, really.

I remember when nearly every singer, actor, game, or movie had a dedicated fan site with forums. It was great to find a niche forum where a small community could come together and get to know one another. I miss those days.

 

[maylurker]

its just a nice break from the shallow types of conversations you see other places

thats exactly how i feel. its refreshing to express yourself fully facing no judgement

 

[LunarPyotr]

Now that you're talking about it, yes..
It definitely has that old internet vibes although my adventures with the internet started quite early with an Commodore C64, polish dial-up internet module sold illegally in Germany and I don't really remember if I used IRC Chat to join all the different servers or if it was through Usernet, where I used a certain floppy disk with an included internet browser or some sort of software.
However, the internet was free of censorship, especially the EU censorship, I was on different servers and I could say that it was a dangerous place. I just was so irresponsible where I used to meet those strangers, often grown ass guys, we traded pirated games or I paid money to get my hands on code books with hacks for games, cheats and walk through guides for games.

Honestly, I miss those times. Those simple times, before the internet became mainstream, where you had to wait hours to download "content" from LimeWire, when the phones could be easily repaired and the times where my parents and brothers weren't as hostile and toxic towards me as they are "nowadays".
And I'm saying "nowadays" because I completely cut any form of communication with them after I tried my luck the second time to move out to Poland.

 

[underairpressure]

The 'old internet' vibes are a huge part of the reason I've still clung to forums after all this time....... what few of them remain, at least. The 'old internet' certainly had a lot of it's own problems, but I just, prefer the focus on text-based communication, and on anonymity. It's also nice to not be constantly bombarded by advertisements or people trying to "influence" you or whatever

 

[violetforever]

me too. i miss forums so much even though i didn't really get to experience them since i was born in the 2000s. i think about the rise and decline of social media all the time.

 

[Dejected 55]

It all depends on where you go. I've been on the Internet since the 1990s and lots of cruel people were on there back then too. Depending on where you hung out, whether it was a forum or newsgroups or a private chat via IRC or Telnet... you could easily have a bad time if the wrong people were around.

Heck, back when MSNBC first was a thing, they had a chat section on their Web site and some people were on there who had fun attacking other people and they doxxed me one time because I disagreed with some extreme position they had taken... and I complained to MSNBC about the user doxxing me, they not only did nothing to stop it BUT called my boss at the time to ask me to stop complaining. I had been doxxed and the person who doxxed me was literally inviting people to come sexually assault me in my home!

Anyway, the point is... the Internet has always been a mix of good and bad people and your experience really depended on where you happened to land. Lots of good places to meet people online, and lots of bad ones too.

 

[alstroemeria55]

I miss the feeling of the old internet too. Social media today is so commercialized and vain. I used to be in another forum but it was about a specific interest which I lost so I had nothing to contribute anymore. If anyone knows any other good forums or spaces that feel like this, please let me know.

 

[Forever Sleep]

I agree. I'm not all that good at feeling grateful for things in life but, I am grateful for this place and, to have found it. It was like striking gold.

 

[Dejected 55]

People suck. That's just universal truth. The Internet didn't ruin people... it exposes them for who they always were and allows them to hurt more people faster.

Pre-Internet... when I was in middle and high-school I was into the original Dungeons and Dragons. I was a kid when that first started. I didn't always have people to play with... but one year in school a few of us managed to convince the school to let us play D&D as part of the after school game day activities. Some played board games or chess, and a few of us played D&D.

The problem was that the kid who was running our game decided he really liked one of the people in the group more than the rest... and instead of it being a game where we all participated equally... basically the game runner (dungeon master) would listen primarily to one person. So, we'd go into a new environment and most of the time you want to spend time searching for hidden treasure and whatnot... you know, having an adventure... but one in our group always wanted to just go to the next room, kill whatever was there, and go to the next room... no searching for hidden anything... and the guy running the game just ignored what the rest of us wanted to do.

It was frustrating... and so I just started randomly attacking the other guy in our group until my character was killed off and I was expelled from the game. Nobody else liked the way he was running the game but I was the only one who would speak up... and so I was out... and you can't play D&D solo so I was out and the other kids stayed with the two people running a horrible uninteresting game. My attacking the group was the only interesting thing that ever happened.

Point is... people seem wired for exclusion and the ones with any actual power get to decide how things go... and others will flock to them even if they don't like what is being said/done because they fear being excluded more than they fear being taken advantage of...

It doesn't take social media to screw people over. Remember it's people using social media doing the shit... people... and they find a way to fuck people over with whatever tool is at their disposal. Social media could be a good thing... but enough bad people ruin it for the rest and most people won't speak up about it because they'd rather be in a bad place than no place at all.

 

[violetforever]

If anyone knows any other good forums or spaces that feel like this, please let me know.

me too

 

[LittleSunshine]

It really feels like the old Yahoo Groups again, with that same sentiment.