The narwhal shall forever bacon at midnight, even if its home has turned to shit :(

It all comes back to community. Back in those days, forums and platforms like IRC were great. They had a human scale; you quickly learned about the regulars, their personalities, likes and dislikes. Heck, on most forums that I visited, plenty of people used their actual name - including myself. The internet felt like a nice, safe community, like its own digital suburb.

Sometimes that was even literal. I used platforms like Cybertown and later on Second Life. Those let you own actual houses and and build stuff on there. In Cybertown - we usually just called it CT - I knew every resident on my block. I hosted house parties, had giveaways. We’d even have commemorative digital statues as gifts for guest. I still kept in touch when CT died. I still miss it.