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<s>Two</s> Three more questions. Please answer both!

1. When were the "good old days" of the net?

  • Pre-1995 (8%, 235 votes)
  • 1996–2005 (64%, 1901 votes)
  • 2006–2015 (25%, 747 votes)
  • 2016–present (2%, 71 votes)
2954 voters. Poll end: 2 weeks ago

This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
Molly White
Molly White  
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2. How old are you now?

  • 20 or under (1%, 42 votes)
  • 21–30 (10%, 277 votes)
  • 31–40 (31%, 803 votes)
  • 41 or older (56%, 1468 votes)
2590 voters. Poll end: 2 weeks ago

Thomas 🔭✨
Thomas 🔭✨  
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Way to stab the dagger in with this question 😭
Molly White
Molly White  
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I lied. Three questions.

How old were you during your "good old days" period?

  • Under 20 (42%, 1029 votes)
  • 21–30 (41%, 1014 votes)
  • 31–40 (12%, 292 votes)
  • 41 or older (4%, 101 votes)
2436 voters. Poll end: 2 weeks ago

This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
J.P. Stewart
J.P. Stewart  
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Glad to see "the internet generation" (aka forgotten generation aka oregon trail generation) here representing. ;)
Desert Dweller
Desert Dweller  
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Again, impossible to answer. The decades don't break down that way.
Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.
Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.  
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I've had "good old days" in all of those periods (I'm now 43), but I think I peaked somewhere 2012-2016.

Trump's election was traumatic, even though I was not in danger. I did "fine" in 2020 -- but 2021 and 2022 kicked me in the teeth, and while there are definitely ways I think I'm better than I ever was, I'm never quite as content.

Michael Clayberg
Michael Clayberg  
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Question 3 is unfortunately impossible to answer accurately. I was equally in my 30s and 40s.
GeePawHill
GeePawHill  
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Ummmm, "41 or older"?

Feelin' a little unseen, here.

❓ucblockhead
❓ucblockhead  
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having turned 31 in 1996 I feel this poll was made for me :-p
psu_13
psu_13  
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i think all three of these are the same question.
Pax_Siciliae
Pax_Siciliae  
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I mean I probably skew the data being a late comer to the web but certainly its interesting to see what people are saying.
I massively look forward to reading what you write and hearing your thoughts : )
also just trying to not be a total lurker here
This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
Blaidd Drwg
Blaidd Drwg  
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My good old days are now.
Hue StL
Hue StL  
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exactly 20, no option.
StaringAtClouds
StaringAtClouds  
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I never had a "good old days" period

The best time of my life would be the last 20 odd years since I met my partner but that isn't old that's now

Mother Bones
Mother Bones  
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My personal good old days, or the good old days of the internet?
This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
Hades Addict
Hades Addict  
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I guess the answer has something to do with the country the person resided in at the time.
Hara Surya
Hara Surya  
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When I was about 20, my father was about as old as I am now, he told me that when I got to be his age I'd understand the lyric from Jack and Diane, "Hang onto sixteen as long as you can, changes come round real soon make us women and men" and it didn't mean to act like a teenager.

The older I get the more I realize my parents were right about a lot of things.

This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
Zane Selvans
Zane Selvans  
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Very curious to hear how the results vary by platform, if you posted the poll elsewhere too!
JayT
JayT  
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All of my life?
Rubén
Rubén  
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In a surprising turn of events, we all miss our twenties 😜
Badscrew
Badscrew  
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I never had « good old days »
The Grouchybeast
The Grouchybeast  
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I'm another '25-35' age range answer.
Hypolite Petovan
Hypolite Petovan  
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@Molly White I believe I see what you are going for, and I have indeed a personal "good old Internet days" period between 2003 and 2009 when I was in the 21-30 age range, but for me it isn't indicative of the general "good old internet days" that ended more recently for me with the increased availability of text and image generators just a few years ago including with the release of GPT-3.
@Molly White
This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
aoanla
aoanla  
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in common with others, hard to answer q 3 - I was 16-25 in the time period in question, so equally choice 1 and 2 (which are also the most represented choices in general at the time of writing), so I picked neither
Craig Grannell
Craig Grannell  
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How old do you feel now after filling in these survey questions?

  • Old (0 votes)
  • Very old (0 votes)
  • Ancient (0 votes)
  • Just sweep the dust away (0 votes)
Poll end: 2 weeks ago

ftg
ftg  
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Heh, I can see where this is going.
Orc
Orc  
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This question probably needs overlapping age ranges for those of us born on decade boundaries.
2xfo
2xfo  
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@orc
I made a judgement call 😅
@Orc
The Cat Herder
The Cat Herder  
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What are your answers to these 3 questions?
Molly White
Molly White  
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2006–2015, 21–30, under 20
This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
The Cat Herder
The Cat Herder  
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This is a very interesting poll. I started in this biz in the early 90’s after college. A lot of change over time.
Bob Tregilus :tux:📷:copyleft:
Bob Tregilus :tux:📷:copyleft:  
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Eek, looks like I was the rare old guy during the "good old days" ('96-'05) of the internet. But, >41 is not old, btw. Old doesn't happen until you're in your late '60s.
Phillip Upton
Phillip Upton  
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This 60 year old is giving your age scale some serious side eye…
Robb Munson
Robb Munson  
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the results surprise me on this one.
Joe Beam
Joe Beam  
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Mentally, physically, or emotionally?
jeremiah
jeremiah  
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Molly, this is the first poll I've taken that's put me in the second to last oldest option.
Fruity Mercury :catjam:
Fruity Mercury :catjam:  
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I'll be 31 in exactly 7 days so I tapped the "wrong" age bracket just to see what it feels like 🙃

(I can remove and revote for accuracy purposes if you'd like, although I don't know if those 7 days truly matter in the grand statistical scheme of things)

Edit: wait no, apparently I can't? Am I misremembering that this used to be possible?

This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
Lewis
Lewis  
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It's corny but have fun from the 'go'. The wheels often get wobbly as you age. Run and play.
Justin (StayGrounded.online)
Justin (StayGrounded.online)  
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2004-2013 (Digg-gamergate) but yeah.
This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
Toad King
Toad King  
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Trick question, the Internet was never good
Desert Dweller
Desert Dweller  
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Impossible to answer since my correct response doesn't fit any of those categories. 1992-2002ish is closer to correct--IMO.
Matthew Martin ☑
Matthew Martin ☑  
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300 baud is enough for anyone
Simon Brooke
Simon Brooke  
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all of the above. The very early days were hugely exciting. The late nineties, really powerful possibilities started to open up – that was when I was promoting the Web as cheap client-server Lego. Since then we've seen the relentless growth of corporate walled gardens, which are now the overwhelming experience of the Web for a majority of users. But there are still really exciting ideas bubbling up – #ActivityPub is a great example.
#ActivityPub
Prof. Catherine Flick
Prof. Catherine Flick  
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I feel lucky in a way to remember a time before the internet was mainstream. I think that’s one of the ways that I can see just how much it changed. Incredible, really.
burne
burne  
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I assume you mean World Wide Web-days. My usenet career started in 1989, and I was 22 at the time. In a country where credit cards were more rare than white winged unicorns paying for CompuServe was a problem. Somehow I managed. It resulted in me getting involved in the bridge between FidoNet and the internet proper.

From there: Gopher, WWW etc..

aliengasmask
aliengasmask  
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it ended with Google. At the time no one would have thought this, but now with hindsight that absolute monopoly is what ended everything good about random fansites, webrings, Geocities, academic file servers and yes even Yahoo's crazy-even-at-the-time curated web directory
Eka A.
Eka A.  
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Pre 1990... Yes, Pre HTML.
Monsieur Valentine 🇺🇦
Monsieur Valentine 🇺🇦  
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dead internet theorising piece incoming
Patrick Berry
Patrick Berry  
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I'm biased as 96-05 was the most active development time for me
Bill's in the shop for repairs
Bill's in the shop for repairs  
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I guess there are a couple of different "good old days"

I answered for the "good days of the www," but "best memories of the Internet" would be a totally different answer for me. That one dates back to when our computer lab had a map of the entire Internet - every domain - printed out and taped to a door.

SHODAN :nonbinary:
SHODAN :nonbinary:  
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I might've answered 06-15 because those were roughly RuneScape's late 00s golden age for me. Plus imo, I think when the computer went off, you had more of a switch off from the internet as opposed to now where your smartphone just pings you stuff from the internet. I miss that disconnect.
This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
nobody
nobody  
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the cutoff is when Facebook blew up
Keith Ammann
Keith Ammann  
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More precisely, pre-1994. As in, pre–Canter and Siegel.
Rich
Rich  
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The good old days were prior to the dot com bust in 2000. What the web would be hadn't been decided yet and it still felt like it was a fun and creative place.
Martin 🪷 Schmitz
Martin 🪷 Schmitz  
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Selected the first choice 'cause you asked for the net. If you'd asked for the web than it'd been the second one.
DDRitter 🏳️‍🌈🎗️🇵🇸
DDRitter 🏳️‍🌈🎗️🇵🇸  
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the earlier the better. Progressive enshitification at work.

Just a tip: no need for adblocks or privacy keepers.

Same with Xitter.

Mathias af Jochnick
Mathias af Jochnick  
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Depends on you include BBS’es and such things as ”the net” :) Then pre-95 for sure
Pau Cabrera
Pau Cabrera  
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Can’t really help here 🤷🏻

I like how everything is styled right now but I am not sure wether the internet has gotten a little worse than that “internet era” you are talking about.

Rich Rubin
Rich Rubin  
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The late 90s were the Wild West of the internet days. Teens & young adults knew how to find each other and where to go to stake out your own corner to post your thoughts for all to see - Angelfire, Geocities, LiveJournal, etc. later on the ability for people to add comments to sites was created. That was a wow moment for me!
llewelly
llewelly  
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for me, each of the first 3 periods has its advantages and disadvantages, and I found it difficult to choose between them.
silverwizard
silverwizard  
@Molly White I would call the good times an attitude and culture not a time
@Molly White
Molly White
Molly White  
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@paprikapink eh, i get it. just about every year of my life has been better than the last, but that doesn't mean there aren't parts of my teens and 20s i miss sometimes.
@PaprikaPink
Billy O'Neal
Billy O'Neal  
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The 'Good Old Days' of the 'net are just high school, confirmed
Dunwich Type Founders
Dunwich Type Founders  
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things went downhill during the EFnet netsplit wars in 1999.
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