ADVERTISEMENT

The internet has come a long way. A really, really, really long way. Though since I don't remember much of the early internet, I often forget about the fact that it used to be a lot different than what we have today. After all, I'm only 22—I haven't been around for that long.

Despite that—or, perhaps, because of that—it was always quite interesting for me to hear stories and learn new facts about the old-school interwebs. That's why this particular Reddit thread was just right up my alley. A few weeks ago, a Reddit user @DevilYouKnow posted on the site asking fellow users to name the weirdest things they remember about the early days of the internet. As per usual, redditors delivered. In addition, while looking through the users' answers, I happened to learn quite a few new things that I had no idea about. For instance, I didn't know that back in the day, people weren't able to simultaneously use the internet and the phone!

Without further ado, Bored Panda invites you to look through some of the weirdest things people remember about the early internet. As always, feel free to add your own in the comment section!

This post may include affiliate links.

#1

30 Weird Things About The Early Internet You May Have Forgotten Shared By People On Reddit I dunno. But, I really miss the way recipes used to be shared online. No scrolling through a giant website of background story of the recipe and countless ads. It was literally just the text of the recipe, with comments under of how to tweak that recipe. We were so spoiled by the simplicity and immediacy of ingredient lists back then and we didn’t even know it.

rawsugar87 , Unknown Report

Final score:
181points
Add photo comments
POST
hazelree avatar
Stille20
Stille20
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

People need to chill with their log winded explanation. NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR LIFE! GIVE ME THE COOKIE RECIPIE!!!

Vote comment up
7
7points
Vote comment down
reply
View more commentsArrow down menu
You May Also Like:
#2

30 Weird Things About The Early Internet You May Have Forgotten Shared By People On Reddit Starting a download before you went to bed so it would be done when you got up the next morning.

Nightdave , Christiaan Colen Report

Final score:
118points
Add photo comments
POST
bp_10 avatar
WilvanderHeijden
WilvanderHeijden
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Only to find out that someone disconnected you from the internet and your download failed.

Vote comment up
69
69points
Vote comment down
reply
View More Replies... View more commentsArrow down menu
#3

30 Weird Things About The Early Internet You May Have Forgotten Shared By People On Reddit Telling people not to use the phone because you were on the internet.

omegaclick , Steven Lilley Report

Final score:
112points
Add photo comments
POST
bp_10 avatar
WilvanderHeijden
WilvanderHeijden
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And that download that stopped at 99% because your mother had to call aunt Betty.

Vote comment up
61
61points
Vote comment down
reply
View More Replies... View more commentsArrow down menu
#4

30 Weird Things About The Early Internet You May Have Forgotten Shared By People On Reddit I miss the independence and creativity of the early web. You could surf it for interesting topics developed by people as a hobby for hours and not ever run into anything corporate. That has completely reversed now, sadly.

jjc157 , Dan Wood Report

Final score:
93points
Add photo comments
POST
bp_10 avatar
WilvanderHeijden
WilvanderHeijden
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The days that Google was your friendly search-engine. That has completely reversed now, sadly.

Vote comment up
47
47points
Vote comment down
reply
View More Replies... View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
#5

30 Weird Things About The Early Internet You May Have Forgotten Shared By People On Reddit Who here remembers Netscape Navigator being the best browser?

UndeadWarlord , Gabriel Saldana Report

Final score:
86points
Add photo comments
POST
View More Replies... View more commentsArrow down menu
#6

30 Weird Things About The Early Internet You May Have Forgotten Shared By People On Reddit "BADGER, BADGER, BADGER MUSHROOM MUSHROOM!"

rickrolo24 , Weebl's Stuff Report

Final score:
86points
Add photo comments
POST
robert-thornburrow avatar
Robert Thornburrow
Robert Thornburrow
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I only have to see the picture and the song starts playing in my head. Thanks BP, back into therapy for another six months now!

Vote comment up
6
6points
Vote comment down
reply
View more commentsArrow down menu
#7

30 Weird Things About The Early Internet You May Have Forgotten Shared By People On Reddit I remember entire websites dedicated to customizing your cursor

Nlbf-Supreme , Wikimedia Commons Report

Final score:
77points
Add photo comments
POST
View More Replies... View more commentsArrow down menu
#8

30 Weird Things About The Early Internet You May Have Forgotten Shared By People On Reddit The early days of CSS & HTML with cursor effects, far too many different fonts, visitor counters on every website, inexplicable scrolling text, animated gifs everywhere, etc.

It was an assault on the senses, but it was also glorious!

TransientSignal , Wikimedia Commons Report

Final score:
71points
Add photo comments
POST
tehbonz avatar
B
B
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Hand-coding HTML in Notepad before CSS... those were the days.

Vote comment up
37
37points
Vote comment down
reply
View More Replies... View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
#9

30 Weird Things About The Early Internet You May Have Forgotten Shared By People On Reddit Amazon was still a bookstore.

HumongousBratwurst , Wikimedia Commons Report

Final score:
67points
Add photo comments
POST
averysalberico avatar
Avery S Alberico
Avery S Alberico
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Amazon was a bookstore? That makes a little sense because of their logoś meaning...

Vote comment up
28
28points
Vote comment down
reply
View More Replies... View more commentsArrow down menu
#10

30 Weird Things About The Early Internet You May Have Forgotten Shared By People On Reddit The always present 'under construction' sign as well.

The early internet was awash in black background with dayglo fonts and it was glorious. And they were all connected in little rings.

ClancyHabbard , Quartz Report

Final score:
63points
Add photo comments
POST
tinyd avatar
Tiny Dancer
Tiny Dancer
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ah, yes, I recall the Web Ring thing fondly. I had a VERY popular X-Files site back when, for example, and (once you passed the audition and someone approved) you could join a group of other X-Files sites in a ring. At the bottom of your page, you'd display the group's ring graphic and it linked to the next site on the list. Funny to remember that one of the reasons your site would not be approved is if you had too much advertising or commercial links. How refreshing would that be today, eh?

Vote comment up
18
18points
Vote comment down
reply
View More Replies... View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
#11

30 Weird Things About The Early Internet You May Have Forgotten Shared By People On Reddit Dial up that would charge you by the minute. People today don't know how good they have it.

malgranda_azeno , iGlobalWeb Report

Final score:
63points
Add photo comments
POST
feldenor11 avatar
Rizzan
Rizzan
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Playing Everquest for waayyyyy too long and getting the bill...

Vote comment up
2
2points
Vote comment down
reply
View more commentsArrow down menu
#12

30 Weird Things About The Early Internet You May Have Forgotten Shared By People On Reddit I remember my friend showing me some flaming text on his school intranet page and I thought it was the absolute f****** future

OmarGuard , David Tipper Report

Final score:
62points
Add photo comments
POST
View More Replies... View more commentsArrow down menu
#13

30 Weird Things About The Early Internet You May Have Forgotten Shared By People On Reddit I must be older than anyone here, because the "early days" of the internet was back when years still started with 19. And there were NO RULES. There was no online tracking, no ad-bots, just no enforcement of any kind. Essentially the internet then was what the dark net is now. Anything could be found, but only if you knew where to look. Search engines were all but useless and nothing was protected for s***. A few hours in a dumpster full of paper could get you access to nearly anything. That was the early days of the internet.

jk013x , geralt Report

Final score:
62points
Add photo comments
POST
rubyiat100 avatar
ArtistinResidence
ArtistinResidence
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The early Internet was arcnet, used by the military. The fact that nothing was protected meant that creepers could freely pass along things like child porn without getting caught. Oh the good old days. Yes, that’s sarcasm.

Vote comment up
11
11points
Vote comment down
reply
View More Replies... View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
#14

30 Weird Things About The Early Internet You May Have Forgotten Shared By People On Reddit The fact that muting your computer didn't get rid of the dial up noise.

eddmario , Unknown Report

Final score:
61points
Add photo comments
POST
View More Replies... View more commentsArrow down menu
#15

30 Weird Things About The Early Internet You May Have Forgotten Shared By People On Reddit YouTube wasn’t around.

TimTheTooth , Wikimedia Commons Report

Final score:
61points
Add photo comments
POST
View More Replies... View more commentsArrow down menu
#16

30 Weird Things About The Early Internet You May Have Forgotten Shared By People On Reddit It your computer had a virus, you knew. Nowadays, aside from ransomware, viruses are a bunch of uncreative sneaky bois that steal passwords or slow your computer down for a botnet.

wehosh , Wikimedia Commons Report

Final score:
59points
Add photo comments
POST
jadewilliamson89 avatar
Jade Lynn - Panda's Brat
Jade Lynn - Panda's Brat
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My old computer had this weird worm virus that would give a countdown to when it would shut my computer off randomly. I would be chatting on MSN or Yahoo! and I'd have to tell everyone "worm attack, brb"

Vote comment up
32
32points
Vote comment down
reply
View More Replies... View more commentsArrow down menu
#17

30 Weird Things About The Early Internet You May Have Forgotten Shared By People On Reddit Hamster dance

It was just hamster gifs

UndeadWarlord , KOCHRECORDS Report

Final score:
57points
Add photo comments
POST
View More Replies... View more commentsArrow down menu
#18

30 Weird Things About The Early Internet You May Have Forgotten Shared By People On Reddit Aol chat rooms. I do miss those tho.

starshine8316 , bcs652 Report

Final score:
49points
Add photo comments
POST
tinyd avatar
Tiny Dancer
Tiny Dancer
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Newsgroups filled the chat hole for me. I'm still friends with people I met on the alt.culture.us.1970s group from some 25 years ago.

Vote comment up
14
14points
Vote comment down
reply
View more commentsArrow down menu
#19

30 Weird Things About The Early Internet You May Have Forgotten Shared By People On Reddit This just gave me flashbacks. This is why I think a lot of GenX/early Millenials are pretty tech saavy. There were no GUIs for software, no pretty websites on the internet, nothing to "Google" for help. You had to be so damned persistent but it made you really understand things. Now I teach GenZ students and although they mostly have superior social media skills, they really struggle to understand how parts of a computer function together. I've spent hours trying to explain the difference between a local and remote drive, browsers and enabling extensions, clearing a cache, using suites of apps like Google Apps or Office, etc. Especially with so much college learning shifted to a remote format this year, it really showed some of the holes in our childrens' education in using technology.

useless_instinct , Simon Report

Final score:
48points
Add photo comments
POST
crabcrab avatar
Hans
Hans
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think this is the normal way technology goes. The more it matures, the more it disappears, only to be understood by experts. People a few decades ago would routinely fix cars.

Vote comment up
35
35points
Vote comment down
reply
View More Replies... View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
#20

30 Weird Things About The Early Internet You May Have Forgotten Shared By People On Reddit My friend's mom's reaction when I replaced AOL's "you've got mail" with "you've got porn"

UndeadWarlord , Uknown Report

Final score:
47points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
#21

Maybe I missed it, but I don’t see anyone mentioning the dancing baby??? He was so creepy! My mom was stunned that technology could create something “so lifelike” and was obsesssssed. I miss the program I had to create ‘storybooks’, it let you edit the stickers and recolor everything, clicking tiny little pixel boxes for hours Clickclickclick

Awkward-Review-Er Report

Final score:
46points
Add photo comments
POST
View More Replies... View more commentsArrow down menu
#22

30 Weird Things About The Early Internet You May Have Forgotten Shared By People On Reddit Never needing to pay for AOL. Free discs were everywhere. I used them as frisbee.

UndeadWarlord , Unknown Report

Final score:
45points
Add photo comments
POST
leodomitrix avatar
Leo Domitrix
Leo Domitrix
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My grandma used them, on string, to keep birds away from her garden.

Vote comment up
4
4points
Vote comment down
reply
View more commentsArrow down menu
#23

30 Weird Things About The Early Internet You May Have Forgotten Shared By People On Reddit All the random s*** on Limewire under completely different titles

pdxblazer , Wikimedia Commons Report

Final score:
42points
Add photo comments
POST
View More Replies... View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#24

Trying not to blow your load waiting 30-50 seconds for a picture to load fully from top to bottom

SavageBonger Report

Final score:
42points
Add photo comments
POST
View More Replies... View more commentsArrow down menu
#25

30 Weird Things About The Early Internet You May Have Forgotten Shared By People On Reddit Every software you download was a toolbar on internet explorer

Thefakewhitefang , Daniel Sempértegui Report

Final score:
36points
Add photo comments
POST
View More Replies... View more commentsArrow down menu
#26

30 Weird Things About The Early Internet You May Have Forgotten Shared By People On Reddit How AOL didn't use URLs. Every "website" had a keyword, meaning that every topic literally only had one website. I remember when Nickelodeon would constantly promote themselves on TV and said "Log on to AOL keyword 'Nick!'" meaning that that was literally the only place you could see Nickelodeon content.

redxrain86 , Unknown Report

Final score:
33points
Add photo comments
POST
banjopeppers avatar
Banjo Peppers
Banjo Peppers
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

AOL definitely did have urls, the aol keywords were just like using a search engine

Vote comment up
3
3points
Vote comment down
reply
View more commentsArrow down menu
#27

An email costing 5p. Every minute of being online costing 1p. Having to manually write http://www. Otherwise the website wouldn't load. Trying multiple times to log on using a dial up modem. Some days it just wouldn't work. The fact that you couldn't be online if someone in your household was on the phone. The agony when after logging on after 10 attempts someone in the household would pick up the phone which would instantly drop the connection.

AboutTimeCroco Report

Final score:
28points
Add photo comments
POST
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#28

Waiting 5 minutes to load one email page (AOL)...You've got mail.

Seasonedgrappler Report

Final score:
27points
Add photo comments
POST
cassiewilliams avatar
Cassie
Cassie
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That was the time we used to go pee or get a snack. Open the image, go off and do something, and hope it was fully loaded by the time you came back.

Vote comment up
13
13points
Vote comment down
reply
View More Replies... View more commentsArrow down menu
#29

The idea that websites with psychedelic colors was a thing

zensonic1974 Report

Final score:
26points
Add photo comments
POST
lukian avatar
IndiHome
IndiHome
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Isn’t that a virus? It’s called LSD, when you open it, it would do a cool color effect and then paste itself onto other files.

Vote comment up
6
6points
Vote comment down
reply
View More Replies... View more commentsArrow down menu
#30

Mp3 sites where you'd click a link, and be transferred to a similar site... in which you should click and repeat the process, only to find nothing in the end. Some had names like "illegal-mp3s.com" or something.

peaceintheatlantic Report

Final score:
26points
Add photo comments
POST
toujincthlu avatar
Toujin C'Thlu
Toujin C'Thlu
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And MP3 files that didn't contain the song you were looking for, but an ad of some kind.

Vote comment up
6
6points
Vote comment down
reply
View More Replies... View more commentsArrow down menu
Continue reading with Bored Panda Premium
Unlimited content
Ad-free browsing
Dark mode
#31

mIRC

original_mrbrown Report

Final score:
14points
Add photo comments
POST
dmumpitz avatar
Mojones
Mojones
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This! mIRC and pIRCh did run all the time. They were as necessary as winamp

Vote comment up
4
4points
Vote comment down
reply
View More Replies... View more commentsArrow down menu
#32

Usenet newsgroups. I downloaded more stuff through that than any torrent sites now.

SauceBossSmokin Report

Final score:
13points
Add photo comments
POST
bp_10 avatar
WilvanderHeijden
WilvanderHeijden
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's still a huge source for all kinds of content. Music, video, e-books, pictures.

Vote comment up
0
0points
Vote comment down
reply
#33

Might be dating myself, but I guess what constituted as memes. Basically all of them could be found on albinoblacksheep or newgrounds. I realize it’s not the EARLY internet, but it was nearly 20 years ago in maybe 2002? I basically only visited those two sites and neopets...

DizzyGrapes Report

Final score:
12points
Add photo comments
POST
laurencaswell4 avatar
Lauren Caswell
Lauren Caswell
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Neopets! I went there, still got the old account from my youth lol. That was a blast from the past!

Vote comment up
5
5points
Vote comment down
reply
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#34

My step dad made a ‘receiver’ to steal the neighbours internet out of a strainer covered in tinfoil. I’m sure there was more to it but that’s how my 12 year old brain perceived it.

RyuksShadow Report

Final score:
12points
Add photo comments
POST
View More Replies... View more commentsArrow down menu
#35

TIME CUBE. Look it up.

JacobBlah Report

Final score:
9points
Add photo comments
POST
evelynthompson_1 avatar
FurryManiac
FurryManiac
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have no words for this site... if you want life to make sense don’t look this up, kids!

Vote comment up
10
10points
Vote comment down
reply
View More Replies... View more commentsArrow down menu
#36

Hierarchical sites instead of search engines

Nightdave Report

Final score:
9points
Add photo comments
POST
#37

Angelfire

adalaza Report

Final score:
8points
Add photo comments
POST
View More Replies... View more commentsArrow down menu
#38

Picking up a phone would kick you offline.

LetPeopleChange Report

Final score:
6points
Add photo comments
POST
View More Replies... View more commentsArrow down menu
#39

Usenet and IRC had a lot of weirdos on em. I was one of em.

had98c Report

Final score:
5points
Add photo comments
POST
ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#40

The NABU Network was linked to a precursor of the Internet, operating over cable TV. It operated from 1982 to 1985, primarily in Ottawa, Canada. It has been called "The Internet — 10 years ahead of its time"

Report

Final score:
4points
Titas Burinskas
Add photo comments
POST

Anyone can write on Bored Panda. Start writing!

Follow Bored Panda on Google News!