#159: the great tumblr purge

[specter_rot]

What is your internet history? What websites were you a part of that might not be around anymore, and do you have any fond memories of them?

Feel free to answer in the comments or paste the code below into your own journal to answer the question.

<b><user name="questionoftheday"> asks:</b> What is your internet history? What websites were you a part of that might not be around anymore, and do you have any fond memories of them?<br><br><b>My answer:</b>

Comments

[oldtoadwoman]

I'm old enough that I literally never had Internet access before my first college account and I had to hang out in the computer lab until I finally scraped together the money for my own second-hand computer (and dial-up Internet). I stumbled across other fans through discussion "lists" and email, I exchanged addresses so I could write snail-mail letters to people when I moved and didn't have Internet access for awhile. (One memory of this time was a random stranger responding to a comment about Alien Nation, saying I hadn't seen it in years but had fond memories, by offering to send me the whole series on VHS for free just because she wanted someone to discuss her favorite show with.) I was in my own bubble (with sporadic Internet access) just talking with friends and then when I finally got back online, they had all found LiveJournal. And there was this new thing called AO3 that I didn't really understand and didn't expect to ever use because I'd given up writing fanfic (ha!). When LJ imploded, I naively thought everyone was being paranoid and overreacting. I was wrong. I was on Facebook for a year and then hit my point of being pissed off and rage-deleted it (literally deleted a year's worth of stuff one post at a time before deleting the whole account). I got into Tumblr very slowly. At first, I never even posted or reblogged anything, I just scrolled through other people's posts and couldn't quite see the point. But Tumblr, I eventually learned, was very much what you made it. By curating who you followed, you eventually got that perfect mix of interests. I know I will look back on Tumblr with nostalgia, but this is way too familiar for me to think, "Maybe it'll blow over". In my heart, I am done with them and looking forward.