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Anyone here old enough to miss 1980's computer days? (lemy.lol)

submitted 5 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

32 comments fedilink hide all child comments

It was so fun back then. Not the yelling and moaning we have going on today.

Here on Lemmy, even in non-political discussions some is always whining about the current president or whatever.

Or calling for alt voices to be banned.

Back in the 80's computer stuff and conversation was more fun and not so freakin' political.

It was about games, DYI, trying to learn to hack, learning the new tech. It was awesome!

I was part of it, but not as much as I could have been because I was in a small town and couldn't afford a lot. But I def had a foot in the scene, and it was awesome!

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 days ago (4 children)

80's were fun but I was born in 73. I miss a lot about those days, mostly being young and having few responsibilities and a lot of privileges. The very late 80's and early 90's were the heyday of computing and internet for me. It was the Wild West and everyone in it was mostly young and nerdy. My people.

Now the internet is full of assholes who aren't just autistic, but are self-aware assholes who profit from it in terms of money or attention. If I could turn back time I'd go back to it in a heartbeat.

But it wasn't perfect. CP was everywhere. It hit different when I was 15 myself, but these days I'm glad it's cleaned up. Everything took forever. You could spend hours downloading a thing and it wouldn't work. There were known hacks to bring down chat rooms any time you wanted and assholes would use them. I miss it, though, warts and all. Those were all the things that kept the normies off of it, which I think kept it a better place. Smaller communities with curious people are much better. Which is why I'm here instead of Reddit. When Reddit finally dies, if everyone comes here I bet Lemmy will be pretty miserable, too. It's the people. Not everyone belongs in the online society.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago

Now the internet is full of assholes who aren’t just autistic, but are self-aware assholes who profit from it in terms of money or attention.

100 percent. I was born in 1969. For me the best decade was the 90's. But I had a lot of fun in the 80's too.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

Yeah, there is a lot to miss about those days. Seems naive looking back to not have known that those early-net vibes could not last.

I subscribed to a writing magazine in the late 90s or so and they had a web forum. It was amazing to be able to post my writing online and get feedback from a community of people who were virtually always friendly (if sometimes blunt) and dedicated to the craft. I miss that genuine feeling of community, seeing the same pool of people around you so often that you notice when someone's been gone a while.

It can't be the same now for a lot of reasons, but I agree that Lemmy and its Fediverse counterparts (I've only been on Lemmy) are the closest thing we have now. And having recently looked in on the alternative, I just notice reddit getting worse and worse and Lemmy getting better and better.

We should enjoy this time when this world is small. And welcome the refugees as they arrive. Would love for the people to own the means of production, but at this point I will be thrilled if the people can at least come together and seize control of the means of meme production.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

Everything you said here is on point and I also identify with all of it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

The very late 80’s and early 90’s were the heyday of computing and internet for me. It was the Wild West and everyone in it was mostly young and nerdy. My people.

I think that the 1970s -- at least in the US -- would have been CB radio and stuff like phreaking on the then-new long-distance telecom infrastructure.