That's because no one cared about the Internet back then. You could read everything interesting on Usenet, refresh rn, have a few new articles, and then...nothing.

The web was the same way, except that we could kill time looking for material for our one-page sites on deformed baby skeletons.

Maybe I just have wider interests, but I never lacked for interesting reading on usenet. And the trolling was better.

I still think gopher was a better way to distribute information. Also, I miss talkd. I'll show my nostalgic self out now.

Read faster. ;>

Trolling was much, much better. There was a delicate obscenity to it that was appreciated by the smaller community.