Late 90s/early 00s 'everything/nothing' site nostalgia thread

[v0id]

I am 31 years old - almost 32. Probably like a lot of you on this site around my age, I began using online services and the internet at a relatively young age and recall spending way too much time online in the mid to late '90s, before it was particularly cool.

Earlier this evening I randomly thought about about a weird genre of websites that doesn't really seem to exist anymore, nor really have a reason to exist anymore if you think about it. These were the "everything/nothing" or E/N sites, a terminology which hasn't been used in quite some time as far as I can tell. Basically they were early blogs, mostly run by young dudes, who would typically post weird, funny, and degenerate shit (sometimes porn) and which would typically also have active forum communities. If I recall correctly these kinds of sites were most popular in the late 90s and very early 2000s. The one I remember spending a lot of time at was badassmofo.com, which was run by a guy named Sharkey. The forum there limped along well into the 2000s and I think even past 2010 but doesn't seem to be in operation any longer. The biggest site I remember from this era was Stile Project, which was distinctly more ghoulish and fucked up and which I think eventually turned entirely into a porn portal. There were several other sites along these lines, of varying popularity.

Do any of you guys remember these sites, or participate in their communities way back when? I think they captured the spirit of a very specific point in the web's development, before most social media and even before sites like 4chan etc. became particularly popular. I guess I just get a little misty eyed thinking of these sites and how they were so linked to my teenage years.

Anyway, post any recollections/comments/virtual 40-pouring-out ITT.

 

[chubbyfatazn]

Newgrounds? Ebaumsworld? Albino Blacksheep?

I wasted way too many nights looking at worthless shit on those sites. Still, good times, like you said.

 

[Nograts]

I only remember a/s/l in the aol chatrooms.

 

[John Connor]

I just remember Geocites and my first E-mail thorough a site called Ziplip. It was encrypted E-mail but they don't have E-mail anymore. http://www.ziplip.com/

Blast from the past! LOL! http://www.whatsupdoc.us/DrJulie/ziplip.html

This is the message Ziplip users got when they shut down in 2005.

Thank you for using ZipLip’s free secure mail service. We appreciate your patronage and wish to inform you that we will be discontinuing our service on June 30th, 2005. For various reasons, including new U.S. legislation which significantly impacts the individual’s privacy rights, ZipLip is no longer able to provide its free secure email services with any reasonable assurance of privacy and security, particularly in the context of a hosted service. We will revisit the service issue when our legislature reinstates our privacy rights.

Look at the date! LOL http://iprodeveloper.com/development/ziplipcom-announces-web-based-secure-e-mail-service

 

[Eug]

Newgrounds? Ebaumsworld? Albino Blacksheep?

I wasted way too many nights looking at worthless shit on those sites. Still, good times, like you said.

I still go to ebaumsworld for Monday Morning Randomness.

Too much other buzzfeed or buzzfeed-like crap there though.

 

[John Connor]

I only remember a/s/l in the aol chatrooms.

Your avatar needs filling in. Here you go. LOL That way it will blend into the background.

 

[Nograts]

Your avatar needs filling in. Here you go. LOL That way it will blend into the background.

Nice thanks man

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Would Rotten and Ogrish fit along the lines of Stileproject? I remember discovering Rotten at age 10 and looking at all the pictures of dismembered bodies and whatnot. At least, gore/porn is all I really remember from Stileproject, and I remember that place being creepier, at least at the time.

Actually, technically weren't Fark and SomethingAwful more or less in the same "genre" as well, even though they've survived to the present and maybe focused in a bit?

 

[Ichinisan]

My brother created an AOL screenname that would answer the "a/s/l" question before it was asked. People still asked.

 

[OverVolt]

I remember dropping F-bombs in wingdings in the AOL chatrooms and some moderator didn't take kindly to my antics and emailed my parents, in Arial

 

[HeXen]

I remember Tech TV's web site and AOL chat which the latter got me laid more often than the bar/club scenes ever did.

Oh and Zone.MSN.com...a gaming site where you play Chess..etc with open chat rooms. Some crazy stuff said and done on there. I remember changing my user name to a grizzly chess club membership name and the members went apeshit about it, all up in a rage cause I wasn't a member and therefore should not own such a name....I had so much fun pissing those guys off.

Now I just remembered something else, some chat room where a lot of police officers visited or it was for them? Anyway I ticked them off and some point and somehow, they managed to hack my computer and literally filled my entire 4 gig hard drive with 1kb texts that said something derogatory, I forget now.
Not sure how they managed to do that one .

 

[schmuckley]

mulletsgalore.com?

 

[IronWing]

Quake II CTF, best multiplayer game ever.

 

[schmuckley]

I use the the quake2 soundtrack when playing almost any FPS.

 

[Ichinisan]

I use the the quake2 soundtrack when playing almost any FPS.

Sonic Mayhem > *

I remember playing Quake II with the Motocross Madness disc inserted and the tracks kinda fit :awe:

 

[Braznor]

Half Life and System Shock 2!

And oh Deus Ex!

 

[T9D]

https://chaturbate.com/female-cams/

 

[mmntech]

Newgrounds? Ebaumsworld? Albino Blacksheep?

I wasted way too many nights looking at worthless shit on those sites. Still, good times, like you said.

I discovered Newgrounds in highschool. All the vulgar games and early flash cartoons on there. It was great. I can't believe Foamy the Squirrel is still going.

I also remember trolling AOL chatrooms with one of my buddies.

 

[Kadarin]

Would Rotten and Ogrish fit along the lines of Stileproject? I remember discovering Rotten at age 10 and looking at all the pictures of dismembered bodies and whatnot. At least, gore/porn is all I really remember from Stileproject, and I remember that place being creepier, at least at the time.

Actually, technically weren't Fark and SomethingAwful more or less in the same "genre" as well, even though they've survived to the present and maybe focused in a bit?

I used to have an @rotten.com email address

 

[zerocool84]

Worse part was getting hundreds of AOL cd's in the mail.

 

[v0id]

Newgrounds? Ebaumsworld? Albino Blacksheep?

I wasted way too many nights looking at worthless shit on those sites. Still, good times, like you said.

I did too! At Newgrounds, at least, though I was familiar with Ebaums. As I recall it started off as a site to feature the owner's flash games and over time became the huge game portal I assume it is today.

Would Rotten and Ogrish fit along the lines of Stileproject? I remember discovering Rotten at age 10 and looking at all the pictures of dismembered bodies and whatnot. At least, gore/porn is all I really remember from Stileproject, and I remember that place being creepier, at least at the time.

Actually, technically weren't Fark and SomethingAwful more or less in the same "genre" as well, even though they've survived to the present and maybe focused in a bit?

Yeah, I would consider Rotten.com to be somewhat similar to Stile, though it wasn't really a traditional E/N site. That said there was probably a lot of crossover in their audiences. One of my friends had a Rotten.com t-shirt that he proudly wore into his mid-20s before losing it somewhere.

Fark and SomethingAwful are/were definitely the kinds of sites I'm thinking of, and probably some of the biggest. I was never really a SA goon and haven't been to their forums in years and years, but I do remember reading their front page when Lowtax ran the site and thinking it was totally awesome and hilarious.

Everything was smaller. When you met people online you could feel a real friendship. You could actually meet people. You could even meet girls and they were friendly and curious. Total strangers. Now you say hi or try to interact with someone even on facebook who's a friend of a friend and they are like "OMG who is this?? What the flip why are you talking to me?? Hey hey everyone watch out for this guy he's going around talking to people he doesn't know in person!!"

This is true and gets right at why I miss these kinds of places. The internet was a smaller place ~15 years ago, at least it seemed that way to me. I remember meeting a lot of cool people on forums like these and eventually even meeting some in person. I understand why people are a lot more guarded now but it definitely is a loss.

 

[HeXen]

I only got on the internet in 99. It was a transition stage. Most sites were still looking like they were made for dial up. And a lot burned down from the dot com crash soon after.

Everything was smaller. When you met people online you could feel a real friendship. You could actually meet people. You could even meet girls and they were friendly and curious. Total strangers. Now you say hi or try to interact with someone even on facebook who's a friend of a friend and they are like "OMG who is this?? What the flip why are you talking to me?? Hey hey everyone watch out for this guy he's going around talking to people he doesn't know in person!!"

People have become totally mental online anymore. There used to be so many nice communities. I really liked the blog sites that are mostly gone now. Xanga and live journal. People actually posted their real feelings and were totally open and deep. Not hidden behind some shallow facebook page where you don't see anything deeper than today's selfie. There are a few blog sites but people are afraid more than ever to post anything other than shallow comments. And blog sites have been taken over by people trying to sell things or use it as a big mouthed soap box.

Understandable considering all the wacko's and frauds out there. I don't even bother with social media but I think many just use it for the convergence of news and convenience of keeping your old friends and family without actually having to talk to them in life. So complete strangers to suddenly speak to you could understandably raise some alarms.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Understandable considering all the wacko's and frauds out there. I don't even bother with social media but I think many just use it for the convergence of news and convenience of keeping your old friends and family without actually having to talk to them in life. So complete strangers to suddenly speak to you could understandably raise some alarms.

Very much this.

I've pissed off some second cousins on account of that sort of suspicion though.

"Friend Request!!!"

"Um... Hi. I see that you are friends with my uncles. Who are you?"

"**BUTTHURT**"