KnockBack, Episode 24: The Early Internet
Added 2018-07-26 16:01:00 +0000 UTCThe Internet began as an academic and military experiment in the post-World War II United States, and decades later, the World Wide Web built on top of it changed the world forever. In the mid-'90s, the Brothers Moriarty gained Internet access at very different moments in their lives. So let's explore what made those dial up days so special, and what it was like being on the Internet during the moments when people realized what it could be, and what it would become. Looking around the Internet today, things sure were quaint in the not too distant past. You'll see.
Comments
CAN YOU TAKE ME HIIIIGHER?!
Nate McKinney
2018-08-06 03:32:27 +0000 UTCThat made me laugh so hard. Awesome!
Dan and Kayla
2018-08-02 12:50:14 +0000 UTCYesssssss.
Colin Moriarty
2018-08-01 23:20:34 +0000 UTCSuper embarrased to say that my hotmail account was scottstapp_creed@hotmail.com.....
Piyush Athawale
2018-07-31 06:15:14 +0000 UTCPoor bastards.
Colin Moriarty
2018-07-29 20:10:08 +0000 UTCAmerica online either wasn’t an option in Alberta or wasn’t a real choice. We all used MSN messenger.
Dan Kolber
2018-07-29 04:45:37 +0000 UTCI was known to rock Alta Vista every now and again.
Colin Moriarty
2018-07-29 04:40:48 +0000 UTCLOL. I will (try) to remember that for the next time!
Colin Moriarty
2018-07-29 04:40:34 +0000 UTCYeah. I really don't want to talk to you on the phone unless it's essential.
Colin Moriarty
2018-07-29 04:40:18 +0000 UTCI was afraid my dad would somehow figure out that I was printing porn, forgetting that he's computer illiterate.
Colin Moriarty
2018-07-29 04:40:01 +0000 UTCThe first video I ever downloaded was the Episode II premiere that Conan went to to make fun of everyone. I think it took me like two days.
Colin Moriarty
2018-07-29 04:39:37 +0000 UTCAltavista was my search engine of choice back in the day.
Philip Andersen
2018-07-28 17:36:02 +0000 UTCIf you didn't download KORN_GOT_THE_LIFE_REAL_NOT_FAKE.mp3.exe and completely infest your computer with digital aids, you didn't get the full early internet experience! Thanks for the shout-out Colin, it's pronounced Goo-lee-el-mo by the way! It's a tough one.
Phillip Guglielmo
2018-07-28 11:55:11 +0000 UTCWe kinda dropped the ball there. I think Dagan may have been a bit uncomfortable. LOL.
Colin Moriarty
2018-07-28 03:55:23 +0000 UTCThere are for sure different types of anonymity, and I agree that a certain level of at least optional anonymity is good and essential.
Colin Moriarty
2018-07-28 03:55:09 +0000 UTCThank you for listening! Glad you enjoyed.
Colin Moriarty
2018-07-28 03:54:34 +0000 UTCYeah, don’t ever call me. I still have one friend that insists on calling me every time he wants to hang out. I’ll just let it ring and then text him immediately after.
Michael Miller
2018-07-27 21:57:12 +0000 UTCI've got a story for the porn section. When I was a kid, we had dial up, and trying to get porn in a house of 4 was impossible. So one day, when I was home sick from school, I printed out a photo of Shannon Elizabeth naked. I folded it up and stashed it away, as it was going to be the 'go to' material for the foreseeable future. Ten minutes after stashing it, I was so paranoid someone would find it, I lit it on fire and flushed it down the toilet.
Ian (616Entertainment)
2018-07-27 19:10:51 +0000 UTCDude, I remember watching a gameplay video for WWF WrestleMania X8 (GameCube game) on IGN when the game wasn't out yet. It was a video of RVD vs. Hogan in table match, and I was obsessed with finding out if they'd updated the animation of the table breaking. The video was maybe, MAYBE two and half minutes long. After buffering for nearly 40 minutes, my dad shouted "alright god dammit, get off the computer." The video STILL wasn't finished buffering. I said "alright," and they didn't actually disconnect, I silently waited for the video to finish buffering. After it was all said and done... they didn't even break the fucking table in the video and the whole thing was a waste of time.
Ian (616Entertainment)
2018-07-27 19:08:18 +0000 UTCDidn't go deep enough for the porn section.
desperateLuck
2018-07-27 16:15:16 +0000 UTChonestly, online anonymity is imo a brutally underappreciated and misunderstood concept. If there's anything I'm worried about, it's the complete lack of anonymity, where every single click and letter are recorded and attributed to my identity. It’s a means of regulation and it could be innocuous, but it could also be totally destructive, like the worst case scenario in the post-net neutrality world. anonymity gets a bad rap because of the nasty shit that people like you experience on twitter but we forget to add that it’s a place where only a part of the user base is anonymous, and those who use their real identities are exposed for harassment. but imagine an online space where every single user is anonymous unless they decide to reveal their identity, and suddenly what matters is the topic of discussion, not who is who and what. Places like that still exist. That’s where people get to talk about their insecurities without the fear of judgement, that’s where people get to say stupid jokes without the fear of getting fired from their job, that’s where people from all over the world get to share sensitive information without the fear of persecution, and so on and so forth. Cyberbullying is a non-issue when you don’t reveal your identity. I’ve had more riveting discussions on 4chan of all places, than on any social media I use. It’s massively important to many individuals, and it’s massively important to institutions such as journalism. If the cost of that is people being more suspicious of what people see and read online, then I’ll gladly accept that. If anything, it would help a great deal if people stopped accepting what they read online at face value. I think it’s fine if the real and the virtual life are separate. The virtual doesn’t necessarily detract from the real. It’s an added dimension and a way to have an absolutely novel human experience. There’s a lot of merit there that people just throw away without thinking. Imho.
Michal Dudic
2018-07-27 15:40:13 +0000 UTCLove this episode guys! My mom was one of those people who thought you HAD to use AOL to access the internet until maybe 2012. I’m not sure how true this is, but I was told by a coworker that people who list an AOL or Hotmail email account today for insurance purposes get charged a higher premium. Thought that was interesting if true. Anyway, great episode. Thanks!
Drew Lee
2018-07-27 14:06:51 +0000 UTCLOL.
Colin Moriarty
2018-07-27 05:59:14 +0000 UTCThat's super interesting. Never thought about it 'til Dagan brought it up.
Colin Moriarty
2018-07-27 05:58:59 +0000 UTCIt's a subtle way to make kids learn, for sure. =)
Colin Moriarty
2018-07-27 05:58:43 +0000 UTCAwesome. We kinda take it for granted these days, eh?
Colin Moriarty
2018-07-27 05:58:26 +0000 UTCDude, 14.4 was like... yeah. The fucking worst.
Colin Moriarty
2018-07-27 05:58:09 +0000 UTCThe phone's the absolute worst.
Colin Moriarty
2018-07-27 05:57:59 +0000 UTCFreshman year in college, my friend Kevin lived with a nice guy that would sit at his PC all night and do some mIRC role-playing. We thought it was hilarious at the time, but he was ahead of the game!
Colin Moriarty
2018-07-27 05:57:48 +0000 UTCOne thing I remember well is that different phones/houses had different rules for picking up the phone. Like, some places, if you picked up the phone, you'd get immediately disconnected. Other places, you had a quick window where you could hang up and be fine. =)
Colin Moriarty
2018-07-27 05:57:16 +0000 UTCThis is my first time hearing about it, but it's pretty cool!
Colin Moriarty
2018-07-27 05:56:37 +0000 UTCI'm really glad to hear that. Thank you!
Colin Moriarty
2018-07-27 05:56:13 +0000 UTCIt was truly the Wild West. =)
Colin Moriarty
2018-07-27 05:56:02 +0000 UTCMy screen name for AIM was always YouLovePatrick hahaha!
Everyday Patrick
2018-07-27 05:14:58 +0000 UTCLoved this episode! I got a big laugh out of Dagan wondering if MSN Messenger was more popular with Canadians in general. As a Canadian I can confirm this to be true, at least from my experience. No one that I knew growing up ever used AOL, so MSN Messenger was a huge part of social life during the 90's and early 2000's prior to cell phones and text messaging. I'm incredibly nostalgic for Messenger still til this day.. oh how I miss the days of yore.
Jordan Nobiss
2018-07-27 04:00:50 +0000 UTCDagan talking about those kids CD-ROM games got me thinking back about old computer learning games I used to play... Thinkin' Things and stuff like that. I actually learned how to do multiplication when I was 6 by playing a bowling gorilla game. As you answered equations, pins would fall down. After a full set has been answered, the gorilla would bowl the pins over and make a funny quip. I played that game for 30 minutes everyday for all of kindergarten. 30 minutes was the limit for my computer time at home back then : P
Everyday Patrick
2018-07-27 03:43:56 +0000 UTCMy first experience to the internet was being able to join chat rooms !! I was at a friend's house and she said ok you can talk in this room :-) she said it was full of Americans and I was like ...sweet maybe I can ask them what it's like being an American !!! ? I and that was my first experience of rñtalking to someone on the other side of the pond !!
Matthew Perry
2018-07-27 02:13:04 +0000 UTCThe modern generation will never understand the struggle of 14.4 in the early 90s. I can never forget having to wait to download images.... images lol Great episode guys
Chris B
2018-07-26 23:23:35 +0000 UTCDefinitely remember Lime wire. I used it to try and find Blink-182’s Take off your Pants and Jacket bonus tracks. Also, you guys aren’t the only one who hates talking on the phone. I despise it!
Tyler
2018-07-26 22:59:13 +0000 UTCMan. A ton of memories here. I bought my first computer in 1994. A 486DX2 with 4MB of RAM that I expanded to 12MB. Back then, RAM was about $100 a meg. To be honest, I mostly got the computer to play X-Wing, TIE fighter, and Dark Forces. Ah, the days of Lucasarts boot disks. It wasn't long after that that I got on AOL where I spent my days roleplaying in the chat rooms. Then the year 2000, I got cable internet and have never looked back!
Jason Stafford
2018-07-26 20:33:21 +0000 UTCWho could ever forget the dial up tone, being kicked of the internet when someone called or the huge monitors we all had. Extremely excited to listen to this episode. It's deeply nostalgic for me. I'm old enough now, at 29, to look back at those times as the good ole days. :)
Jimmy Valentine
2018-07-26 19:17:06 +0000 UTCCan't wait to listen to this one. Colin, have you heard about these small arcade cabinets from <a href="https://www.arcade1up.com" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.arcade1up.com</a> ? I'm curious to know what you think about such a product.
meijin3
2018-07-26 19:13:46 +0000 UTCThese last couple show topics - Transformers, Early Internet, Video Stores - have really appealed to me. Great job, as always, and I love you both with every cell of my heart.
Jason Kelley
2018-07-26 18:17:08 +0000 UTCMan, the early days for me were the early 2000s. I got my first computer when I was 13 in 2001, the summer before I started high school. I had broadband internet. I was f'in addicted to msn messenger, Kazaa/limewire, msn chat rooms, and browsing gamefaqs. I forget the exact year I joined gamefaqs for the first time, but my current gamefaqs account was created in 2005... prior to 2001 my buddy had a computer so we would download songs off of Napster and burn cds to listen to while playing Goldeneye, crash team racing, WWE Smackdown 1 and 2, Diddy Kong Racing etc.. What a trip down memory lane lol.
Andrew
2018-07-26 17:03:10 +0000 UTC
