When you were young...

I was having a discussion with someone on Discord private chat and I was inspired to make a thread.

For nostalgia's sake, what websites did you visit when you were young?
Do you remember your account? Did you make any friends on these website?
What was your best memory on them? Do you miss being on that website?
Would you go back to it if you could?

I frequented the AOL message boards & chat rooms, Yahoo Groups, Friendster, Hi5, Xanga, and Myspace.

Livejournal was a big thing in the early 2000s but I was just never that much into it, to be honest!

[Ennui.]

I went on Neopets and still have some acquaintances. I don’t have access to my original account anymore but know the info to some secondary ones. I miss role playing there. I do go back sometimes but it’s not the same.

[Silvan]

I used to visit a forum about video games. I was 12 when I registered, but somehow I got along with people there who were mostly between 16 and 20 y/o It lasted for a few years. The forum is still accessible, but nobody's really active there anymore. I have contact with some people from there but we don't talk often. I have never had the chance to meet them irl, but I'd like to.

Dez & Sue, I think it's neat you're still in touch (even if infrequent) with people you met on forums and other websites years ago! Unfortunately, I'm no longer in touch with anyone I acquainted myself with and befriended between 1998 and 2009.

[Everglow.]

I never really made any online friends until TH with the exception of one who I met on YouTube before it became as popular as it is now. We got talking in the comments of a video she had posted and we still have each other on social media which is cool.

I used to use neopets too. I also used habbo hotel a lot too.

I think there were two Habbo's? Because I joined a Habbo social media platform in the mid 2000s and it was based in one of the German speaking countries of Europe. I didn't use it all that much, though; I was more "following the lead" of a friend.

[Celyn]

I wasn't very big on using social websites.

I joined Stardoll and Habbo Hotel because people at school told me to (well, they created an account for me). Someone else got me into Club Penguin. I didn't really bother so much because my internet/computer speed used to be so bad it would crash constantly and everything was in slow motion when the websites got busy. I did like the creative aspects of the websites though, like designing your character and environment. Years later when I was probably a bit too old for Stardoll, I actually became really popular on there because of a Stardoll game where I was one of the top players.

I also realised I was becoming popular they had started to monetise everything whereas I was on the website before that so I had more stuff which looked impressive. I had a similar experience on OurWorld too, which I loved since I could have a 'pet' fox and make myself look like a glowing angel. But I never made any friends on either website though. I'd add people, others would add me, we would talk for a bit, but I'd get anxious talking to people (even online) and then either I would end the conversation or it would just come to an end naturally and I didn't make an effort to pick up.

I didn't really have friends when I was in high school so I never joined MySpace or Bebo because I was worried I would get bullied. That's why I never really went on Habbo Hotel much either since the people who set me up on that would probably have done it hoping to get a laugh out of setting me up with people to talk to.

I did join a Harry Potter forum years ago, and I remember I was really anxious talking to people on there, so I never made friends there either. I've joined other forums similar to TeenHelp but I often left and literally only used the forums to get advice as opposed to making friends.

I did join YouTube before it became really popular and kind of made a friend there. More of an acquaintance really though since we never got close and we naturally fell out of touch. I used to make videos of the sims and upload them too

I do miss being on these sites since I really liked being able to create and personalise an online space. I just never really got the hang of making friends online. Which is weird since I prefer communicating in writing, so you'd think it would be easier for me I made a conscious decision to wean myself off such sites when I felt I was getting too old or spending too much time on them. Which is sad really. But also, it's less fun these days when so many things are monetised and you are now encouraged to spend money to get better stuff in the virtual world...something I really disagree with

Thanks for the interesting thread!

[Dawn.]

I used MySpace, Bebo and Habbo Hotel. I was also on Teenhelp for a bit.

[BoyNextDoor]

reddit, twitter, teenhelp and some that shall not be named due to their nature lmaooo


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[Rika]

For nostalgia's sake, what websites did you visit when you were young?: All kinds! Newgrounds, albinoblacksheep, and various forums and chatrooms.

Do you remember your account? Did you make any friends on these website?: For a chatroom site, I kind of can remember. I did make friends, but many I lost contact with due to the ever changing instant messaging systems.

What was your best memory on them? Do you miss being on that website?: Meeting friends on these websites mainly. I do miss it, but the Internet would have changed and killed the chatroom site.

Would you go back to it if you could?: I have some bad experiences on the chatroom site, but still would love to go back to it. I'd go back one final time for a day. This assumes all the people from back then magically came back somehow.