Can we talk about why IRC chatrooms felt more real than any forum today

I used to log onto Undernet around 1998 and the same crew would show up every night, we actually knew each other's typing quirks and inside jokes. Compared to now where I scroll past strangers all day, those 30 person rooms felt like a neighborhood. Did anyone else have a particular channel that became your second home?

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michaelrodriguez7d ago

The "second home" part really hits, because that's exactly what Undernet felt like for me too. My channel was #wasteland and we had this running joke about a guy named Turbo who never actually typed, just lurked for years, and when he finally said something we all freaked out like a celebrity showed up. You just don't get that weird, slow-burn community vibe when everyone's gone before the conversation even settles.