Memes. They existed then, called 'image macros' or simply as popular content online. Still, they are ubiquitous and a part of new and old internet culture alike.

I'd say that memes underwent a distinct three- or four-phase history:

1. Naive memes (not intended to be a meme): funny videos oe pictures with captions, rick roll, shock images, references to legendary chat quotes,...
2. Structured memes (intended to be a meme, follows a format): Rage comics, pepe, advice animals, demotivational posters,...
3. Absurd memes: The letter E, deepfrying, 🅱️, dat boi,...
4. Neo-traditional memes (reinventing and remixing old structures in new contexts): Wojaks, ironic memes, self referential memes,...

Interestingly enough, this maps perfectly onto the general traditional/modern/postmodern eras of art, just with a far faster evolution.

I intend this thread to be both a place for discussion about the history of memes, and to share old memes or even freshly made old memes in the vein of the retro aesthetic web revival.

Don't forget the email-chain. Back when your only forms of internet communication were IRC, forums, or email chains would be sent from person to person. My parents used to send them to me all the time back in the 2000s.

I uploaded one of the email chains to my drive account if anyone wants to read what they were like: https://drive.proton.me/urls/6X1A4W901C#7gkpxR42n5Am. Pretty cheesy, but we were not in a post-ironic world yet...we weren't even in the ironic stage. Rage comics weren't even around. Honestly, I miss email chains. There are cybersecurity concerns with them, but at the same time I miss when we sent this kind of thing to each other.

I agree. I have been on the internet since 1999, and it was a lot different back then because computers were a lot different back then. If you were on dialup, you didn't want a lot of gifs or pictures loading. Pictures could take several minutes to load, and that is on a good day, and if you had a decent modem. There were some similarities to what Neocities was, specifically if you were on Geocities, but overall it has been more of a rebellion against centralization. My personal site I don't even host on Neocities because I prefer to self-host.

Problem is, decentralization has been co-opted by crypto-bros so it has a bad connotation to it. Unsure of what else to call it besides retro web since it is about taking that aesthetic and pushing it to the modern web.

I strongly believe I would also opt for full-time Linux usage if I wasn't so attached to my Steam library! Dual-booting or running Wine seems like far too much trouble than its worth when considering that my desire to muck around with a game can disappear in a matter of minutes.

I just use Proton. Valve developed it to make the Steam Deck work, and I find that it works very well on Pop!_OS as well. I got Oblivion to run, Deep Rock Galactic(Rock and Stone bruther) and Dark Souls. I don't play much these days as I am too busy, but I find that it usually works. The hardest game I had to get running was 2000's Deus Ex, and that was because the framerate was way too fast and the shadows were weird...but as it turns out, its like that even on Windows without addons.

I def can't recommend Linux to everyone, but it is way easier to use now than when I started lol.

I am Joker. I enjoy creating sites and browsing the sites of others, and I thought this forum looked pretty neat. I hope to make some new friends and maybe learn a few things!

Keep the internet cool