[ih] Chat room and forum archives

[Dave Taht]

On Thu, Sep 1, 2022 at 7:15 AM Ofer Inbar via Internet-history
<internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
>
> On Thu, Sep 01, 2022 at 12:41:26PM +0300,
> Olivier MJ Cr?pin-Leblond via Internet-history <internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
> > As a worldwide chat system I'd recommend IRC, which was really
> > "huge" (in its own world) back then. Again, historically interesting
>
> IRC use was really disjoint from the world of GEnie/CompuServe/AOL,
> BBSes, etc.  In 1992 IRC had hundreds of people.  By 1995 it was much
> bigger, but nearly all of those new people were ones who went to
> college or worked for computer companies in the early 90s, and were
> introduced to the TCP/IP Internet through their school or work
> accounts.  It does not sound like this character fits that mold.

I'm sorry, I think irc was much much bigger than that. I founded an
isp in 1993 and helped run a cybercafe, and the biggest things by 1994
were netnews, chat, mail, and web. irc was also used by a lot of bad
guys. irc had become a thing as early as 1988, I think. As there were
a multiplicity of irc servers, it wasn't anywhere near as federated as
it is now, but I seem to recall seeing /list of chat rooms one day in
late 1994 and seeing well over a thousand. How do I remember? (it's in
a song I wrote, called "cybernation")

I still know a few irc ops from that era, I think. My memory is pretty
weak here.

I do agree that your character is more of an aol or bbs type...

> Until ~1995, most of the "online" public (who were still a minority)
> were either unaware of or only dimly aware of the TCP/IP Internet,
> which is where IRC was.  And those who discovered the Internet through
> the web boom of the mid to late 90s, rather than by already having had
> their own Internet account at work or school before that, mostly did
> not use IRC.  An overwhelming majority of them weren't even aware of
> IRC, and weren't even really aware of a distinction between email,
> the web, and "the Internet" - they mostly thought of it as the same
> vague thing, and signed up for ISPs with live Internet access so they
> could get to the web.
>
> If he did go to college in the early 90s, then yes, he might very well
> have been at a university with an Internet connection.  Not all of
> them gave accounts with Internet access to all undegrads in those
> years, but at those who did, many undegrads found IRC.
>   -- Cos
> --
> Internet-history mailing list
> Internet-history at elists.isoc.org
> https://elists.isoc.org/mailman/listinfo/internet-history



-- 
FQ World Domination pending: https://blog.cerowrt.org/post/state_of_fq_codel/
Dave Täht CEO, TekLibre, LLC