{"id":300,"date":"2008-02-20T18:37:22","date_gmt":"2008-02-21T01:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bspcn.com\/2008\/02\/20\/what-the-social-web-looked-like-in-the-1990s\/"},"modified":"2010-06-06T17:34:09","modified_gmt":"2010-06-07T00:34:09","slug":"what-the-social-web-looked-like-in-the-1990s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/2008\/02\/20\/what-the-social-web-looked-like-in-the-1990s\/","title":{"rendered":"What the Social Web Looked Like in the 1990s"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by copybrighter<\/a><\/p>\n

1. Before YouTube\u2026 there was \u201cAmerica\u2019s Funniest Home Videos\u201d<\/h5>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This 90\u2019s television smash-hit, based on a Japanese show<\/a>, kicked off user-generated video content in America. People submitted home videos of babies with nail guns, dogs on fire<\/a>, and grandmas falling down<\/a>, in hopes of winning a weekly cash prize.<\/p>\n

2. Before Twitter\u2026 there was IRC.<\/h5>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a UNIX-based system of chat servers that was introduced in late 1988. A series of networks and thousands of channels allowed people to \u201ctweet\u201d about various topics, share cool links, and offer technical support. Twitter now offers a somewhat similar experience with a more user-friendly interface and mobile support.<\/p>\n

3. Before blogs\u2026 there were \u2018zines.<\/h5>\n

\"zine.jpg\"<\/p>\n

image credit: Laughing Squid <\/a><\/p>\n

If you wanted to delve in the world of personal publishing in the early 90\u2019s, it was pretty spendy. Desktop publishing with Adobe Pagemaker required investing big bucks into a high-end Mac<\/a> and a state-of-the-art laser printer. Most young people stuck to cutting and pasting scraps onto blank paper and then xeroxing the final product.<\/p>\n

4. Before podcasts\u2026 there were codelines.<\/h5>\n

\"zine.jpg\"<\/p>\n

image credit: Killbox<\/a><\/p>\n

In the 90\u2019s, when digital voice mail was a cutting-edge corporate technology, there was a vibrant voice mail hacking<\/a> scene. Phone phreaks from all over the United States would sequentially \u201cscan\u201d 1-800 exchanges for voice mail boxes (VMBs) and use default passwords to take over employees\u2019 (unused) voice mail boxes. They would record long informational greeting messages<\/a>, known as \u201ccodelines<\/a>.\u201d Codelines began with music and \u201cshouts out\u201d to other phone phreaks and then segued into first-generation \u201cpodcasts\u201d packed with underground content: freshly hacked calling cards and credit cards, conference calls PINs, and global outdial passwords.<\/p>\n

5. Before blogrolls and comments\u2026 there were web rings and guest books.<\/h5>\n

\"webring.gif\"<\/p>\n

Sites on similar subjects used link out to each other in a promotional circle jerk called a \u201cweb ring.\u201d Guestbooks used to be the hot way to leave comments, until bots were developed to harvest the e-mail addresses for the the worst kinds of spam imaginable.<\/p>\n

6. Before Facebook\u2026 there was the 20th annual high school reunion.<\/h5>\n

\"reunion.jpg\"<\/p>\n

image credit: Alan Light<\/a><\/p>\n

You\u2019d have to wait in 20 year increments \u2013 and buy a plane ticket \u2013 to catch up with many of your old friends or see their photo albums. Seriously.<\/em><\/p>\n

7. Before Skype\u2026 there were k0dez and bridges.<\/h5>\n

\"k0dez.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Before VOIP and cell phone plans, it was rather expensive to make a long distance call. In some cases you\u2019d pay over a dollar a minute (!) to \u201creach out and touch someone.\u201d The early-adopters (a.k.a. \u201cphone phreaks\u201d) used home computer software to hack out calling card codes<\/a> (\u201ck0dez\u201d) to keep in touch. For teleconferencing, phreaks would hack out corporate phone systems\u2019<\/a> conferencing nodes, called \u201cbridges.\u201d Epic rap sessions and knowledge downloads would go on for weeks\u2026 until the corporate host got a massive phone bill, found out, and shut it down. Check out these awesome vintage recordings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

8. Before eBay\u2026 there was the pawn shop.<\/h5>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

image credit:Duien<\/a><\/p>\n

Same questionable items, high fees and unsavory characters \u2013 but in an actual, real-life retail location<\/em>!<\/p>\n

9. Before the iPhone\u2026 there was the PayPhone.<\/h5>\n

Before technology allowed people to yak loudly on cellphones in restaurants, they had to go out to the payphone.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

image credit:Aaroynx<\/a><\/p>\n

And if they wanted to make a long distance call, they\u2019d need an entire roll of quarters. The 90\u2019s equivalent of an \u201cunlimited calling plan\u201d was a toll-fraud device called a red box<\/a>. \"redbox.jpg\" Red boxes were modified Radio Shack touch-tone dialers that made the same sound a Bell payphone made when a quarter was inserted. By the end of the decade, Radio Shack had discontinued the device and Bell had upgraded to digital equipment. Thankfully, cellphones were becoming affordable, mainstream communications devices by then.<\/p>\n

10. Before P2P file sharing\u2026 there was Columbia House Records.<\/h5>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

image credit:joe madonna<\/a><\/p>\n

Before DRM and iTunes<\/a> \u2013 people downloaded music from Napster and burned it on a $569 external CD-R drive. Non-technical people who wanted free tracks got tempted by magazine ads that promised \u201cGet 8 CD\u2019s for Just One Penny<\/strong>!\u201d and they were unwittingly signed up for recurring CD subscriptions. Then they got slapped<\/em> with a huge bill afterwards \u2013 the old-school equivalent of an RIAA<\/a> settlement.<\/p>\n

11. Before Craigslist\u2026 there was the men\u2019s room wall.<\/h5>\n

\"debbie.jpg\"<\/p>\n

image credit: simon slade<\/a><\/p>\n

Local newspapers would only publish \u201cvanilla\u201d dating ads. So, how did geeks and other shy people manage to hook up? The restroom wall, of course!<\/em> Gay guys would post phone numbers and set meeting times for man-to-man encounters. Straight dudes would post the numbers of their ex\u2019s and innocent girls they wanted to harass.<\/p>\n

12. Before Digg\u2026 there was your local newspaper\u2019s \u201cTop Stories of the Year\u201d issue.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

\"paper2.jpg\"<\/p>\n

You used to have to wait until December to find out hottest story of the year. And the news stories were picked by crusty old editors. Now there\u2019s an infinite<\/em> stream of high-quality, uncensored<\/em> content and entertainment \u2013 all just a mouse click away.<\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t it great to be living in the 21st century?<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by copybrighter 1. Before YouTube\u2026 there was \u201cAmerica\u2019s Funniest Home Videos\u201d This 90\u2019s television smash-hit, based on a Japanese show, kicked off user-generated video content in America. People submitted home videos of babies with nail guns, dogs on fire, and grandmas falling down, in hopes of winning a weekly cash prize. 2. Before Twitter\u2026 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1916,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300\/revisions\/1916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}