Internet Slang of Yesteryear

[Commodorn]

I'd really like to know what internet slang words or terms people remember or are aware of that have fallen out of use in current day. More recent(?) and well known ones would include "Derp" or, if I were to bring back some past trauma, "Ermahgerd", but I remember my mother telling me about using something like "<g>" or "<ggg>" in the 90s to represent different levels of giggling.
(She also used it on a polaroid of herself saying something similar to "Ugh, I look so stupid! <gggg>" on the back. ..I'm sorry for revealing this to the public, ma.. although, what you really wrote was probably way more embarrassing.)

I've actually tried to do research on that last one, but I haven't had much luck finding it mentioned anywhere. I'm not sure how niche the forum(s?) or groups it could've been used in were, but maybe someone who was on the internet in the early to mid 90s would recognize it.

[dotmidi]

My dad was a huuuge computer nerd back in the day (he still is, lol he literally fixes and builds arcade machines and pinballs    ) because of our age gap he has a lot of phrases similar like this from online or weird online references.
For a long time he was referencing the uh strongbad popular girls skit where they go "SOOO GOOD!!" but i had no idea because his impression was so bad but i was used to hearing him say that all the damn time  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJsqv3JStWI

one of the more prominent ones is definitely LEET culture, it made a comeback because of homestuck but its just not nearly the same as it was before. one day at mcdonalds we got a receipt and the number was like "1337" and my dad was just sooo excited that it was that number (because it looks like leet)   

you can find a lot of grand examples of l33tspeak on the imood forums in like 2001 if you backread enough. there is a key difference between past leetspeak compared to present day leetspeak but im not sure how to put it into words other than "homestuckification" ?? ??   

[Commodorn]

For a long time he was referencing the uh strongbad popular girls skit where they go "SOOO GOOD!!" but i had no idea because his impression was so bad

My dad had something like that as well! It's a little different, but he used to casually say "breaking the law, breaking the law.." all the time. (This song is what he was referencing). He would've been turning 60 soon.. it kind of hurts now being able to hear him say that so vividly in my mind <:O( I miss the old bastard

133tspeak seems VERY familiar, by the way. It reminds me a lot of writing curse words or messages with calculators as a way to goof off in school... I wonder if that's the same thing or something similar(?). Actually, I might've unknowingly and frequently used it on the internet back in the early 2010s..

[dotmidi]

I wonder if that's the same thing or something similar(?). Actually, I might've unknowingly and frequently used it on the internet back in the early 2010s..

My days on the net when I was much younger, oh boy..  instead of having a leetspeak phase i actually exclusively typed in all caps
it was hard when i played online multiplayer games because i accidentally came off very rude and as if i was screaming all the time , i do regret that to the poor ppl who had the misfortune of talking to 11 y/o me on Don't Starve Together 

also speaking of outdated phrases, things like "XD" and "ROFL" def died out. RIP to the ROFLcopter

[Melooon]

things like "XD" and "ROFL" def died out

I was a very heavy xD user in my younger days, I remember some time in the 2010s having to stop myself and say "You need to stop these xD's its time for them to stop!" it was hard work but eventually I got out of the habit xD

[Colliewood]

I still try to fit in xD and rofl. its more common to see xP though when im being silly. I loved emoticons and i try to incorporate them when it feels appropriate. I really feel like the internet today feels more disingenuous, a lot of "gen z slang" is just blatantly taken from irl black communities whove been using it forever because these tiktok kids think its funny so i feel way more comfortable using phrases and words that i came across in the communities i grew up in, aka mid-late 00's forum culture. its hard tho cause that part of my language is so buried

[sig]

I'm just glad were past the era of people saying 'lol' out loud, in real life, to be honest 

[cinni]

*glomps u* XDDDD ROFLMAO

i still have some of my old aim chats saved from 2006, it really reflects how 12 years olds talked on the internet :ppp i should dig it up when i have the time! i play an old mmo, furcadia, and i still see the occasional xD dropped unironically, which makes me very happy. one thing i noticed is the use of other emoticons that have died but are slowly making a comeback in some circles, like >3< or @_@ or >_> (i still use them because they convey a different feeling from emojis haha). a/s/l is another one i can think of! i remember going on aol chatrooms and pretending to be older than i was lolol

[tarraxahum]

Not exactly slang, but all this talk of text emojis (which, btw, xD still rocks! altho nowadays I find myself more partial to simple :D) reminded me of, uh, I guess the early-early 10s? When every anime space I was at would be using ^^ a lot. Myself included. When I open my DMs from back in the day I get assaulted with ^^.

Nya kawaii desu ^^

(My dad tragically has no slang to share. Instead he has stories about playing DOOM at work after hours 'cause no one in the office had a PC at home yet.)

[Memory]

For a long time he was referencing the uh strongbad popular girls skit where they go "SOOO GOOD!!" but i had no idea because his impression was so bad but i was used to hearing him say that all the damn time  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJsqv3JStWI

My friends and I used to quote Teen Girl Squad incessantly. That and Clone High made up most of our vocabularies.

Leet was probably the most dominant online slang in the communities I frequented. I didn't realize ROFL had fallen out of use. Do people still use LMAO? What about ROFLMAO (clearly pronounced roffle-mow)?

[levya]

When every anime space I was at would be using ^^ a lot.

this just reminded me of my gaia online days where every sentence I typed needed to have some kind of emote at the end xD
I just had to let everyone know my exact emotion so I didn't appear aloof ^^

some other emotes/slang I remember was orz or OTL to show a person crouched on the ground in defeat or a lot of people would put /shot after saying things that they thought were stupid/silly
and I definitely used to say rawr back in the day

[cinni]

some other emotes/slang I remember was orz or OTL to show a person crouched on the ground in defeat or a lot of people would put /shot after saying things that they thought were stupid/silly
and I definitely used to say rawr back in the day

ohhh my god i used /shot all the time LOL. thanks 4 reminding me

[Cele]

I use xD sometimes nowadays. I remember (y) meant thumbs up but I don't use it anymore because I fear people don't really understand.

[Commodorn]

A lot of people are mentioning "xD" and I'd like to say that I didn't stop adding that to every other sentence until after 2015. Whoops.

Here's a nice little image from 2013 I made and lovingly named "LOL.jpg", by the way. Enjoy.

[dotmidi]

"NU!!!" was defintiley a phrase that was left behind too  makes me sad

tbh i might start bringing XD back on this forum more since we don't really have a laughing emoticon to use