[tsumnia]

Here's one from my old AOL days. We originally just used email, AOL message boards, and a scheduled weekly chatroom, but once the Web took over it merged into Starmen.net [2]

Since we're on a "reminsence about legacy Internet" trend right now, here's the opening to [1]:

"What most people forget to remember is that it’s not just about the game. It’s about the people, it’s about the newsletters, it’s about the discussions, the trivia, the polls, the websites, and the meetings. Everything that was a part of the club was a part of the community, and there was so much involved that it was almost too much to handle. Who had the time to be a member of some 15 Online clubs? I can distinctly remember sending out invitations to join Moonside and receiving replies along the lines of “Sorry, I’m already in like 5 of these things.” Now, I wish there were more clubs and to any of you who have one: I will readily join. The only last great, recently active club I can think of now is the EarthBound Gang, arguably the greatest Online EarthBound Club ever. In early 1999, a lot of the clubs started dying out. I know that mine began to slow down, only to be restarted in the fall of 99’, and again in the summer of 00’. But as a whole, the EB clubs were never restarted, which is a shame, because some of them were downright fun."

[1] https://www.angelfire.com/ga3/ebhistory/intro.html

[2] https://starmen.net/

[psunavy03]

The problem is "fandoms" as a whole have now become such toxic hellscapes I'd rather just enjoy the game/movie/TV series myself and completely ignore what anyone else's opinion of it is.

I don't need things that bring me joy to be ruined by the most obsessive weirdos in the world.

[rchaud]

That's easily solved by turning off comments or forcing every comment to be approved by an admin before it was displayed; much easier back then as there simply weren't that many people online. The "Web 2.0 read/write web" of XBL lobbies, Battle.net and Discord perverted gaming culture to a point of no return.

[crims0n]

Sites back then had benevolent dictators that curated an experience for fans. I think in many ways it worked better than the democratized communities we have today.

[andrepd]

Honestly that's just another thing that's down to algorithmic social media. Echo chambers + rewarding ragebait is an explosive combination.