<![CDATA[a thing i have found younger researchers of the late 90s internet don't really appreciate is the number of ephemeral websites made by literal children.]]>a thing i have found younger researchers of the late 90s internet don't really appreciate is the number of ephemeral websites made by literal children. i was 12/13/14 making websites on freehosts for fun and i knew easily a dozen other people my age doing the same. the person who hosted the forum i was part of in high school started it at 15 on a server under his bed. there was no concept of age verification. if you had an internet connection and lax parental supervision you were good to go.

(this post is not about the utterly inane age verification laws nor is it about porn. it is about the very often ignored contributions of young people to culture.)

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/topic/140a4fa4-2305-476f-b1c1-b8111e1b384f/a-thing-i-have-found-younger-researchers-of-the-late-90s-internet-don-t-really-appreciate-is-the-number-of-ephemeral-websites-made-by-literal-children.RSS for NodeFri, 12 Jun 2026 02:10:36 GMTSun, 07 Jun 2026 13:06:21 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to a thing i have found younger researchers of the late 90s internet don't really appreciate is the number of ephemeral websites made by literal children. on Mon, 08 Jun 2026 15:57:28 GMT]]>@rose_alibi I did enjoy the game chatrooms (MUDs I guess) that AOL had, but my dad didn’t want to pay for AOL so I got the free hours to try it and that was it. Online games like Ultima were also out of the question. But building stuff was free and didn’t require parental consent!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://toot.cafe/users/haloedrain/statuses/116715306917750829https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://toot.cafe/users/haloedrain/statuses/116715306917750829Mon, 08 Jun 2026 15:57:28 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to a thing i have found younger researchers of the late 90s internet don't really appreciate is the number of ephemeral websites made by literal children. on Mon, 08 Jun 2026 15:52:42 GMT]]>@rose_alibi I lied to Geocities about my age because I was a few weeks too young for them to let me create an account. I later expanded to multiple free hosting sites because I ran out of room. I built hobby sites for myself, for friends, school clubs…and I don’t think my parents even knew about it, at least at first unless I mentioned it. My friends did the same thing, we were nerds 😆

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://toot.cafe/users/haloedrain/statuses/116715288149119857https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://toot.cafe/users/haloedrain/statuses/116715288149119857Mon, 08 Jun 2026 15:52:42 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to a thing i have found younger researchers of the late 90s internet don't really appreciate is the number of ephemeral websites made by literal children. on Mon, 08 Jun 2026 15:39:09 GMT]]>@rose_alibi Adding to the fanfare, this is one of the reasons I'm so upset about the state of things now.

I don't even remember the earliest of mine, I think it involved RPG maker 95/2000 stuff? But it was out there for a time. I was 14.

Even better, you know the ancient flash video Hyakugokukyuuichi? The one made by Neil Cicierga, like the nerd celebrity? That was around the same time.

He's *my age*. I only learned that relatively recently.

This shit's important.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://plush.city/users/Kyresti/statuses/116715234865278315https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://plush.city/users/Kyresti/statuses/116715234865278315Mon, 08 Jun 2026 15:39:09 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to a thing i have found younger researchers of the late 90s internet don't really appreciate is the number of ephemeral websites made by literal children. on Mon, 08 Jun 2026 15:20:31 GMT]]>@rose_alibi so much this! The first two ISPs I had both provided ftp and an exposed /~ home directory to host in.

I had a personal page, “official” websites for small local
bands I liked (geocities ftw), and even a crappy underground newspaper covering teen drama at our highschool.

My first money-earning job was independently designing and implementing a web site for a small motorcycle apparel company in my hometown. They paid me $250 up front, and it was more money than I had seen in my entire life.

I was 14.

I miss that janky self-made Internet so much.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/mathaetaes/statuses/116715161645610563https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/mathaetaes/statuses/116715161645610563Mon, 08 Jun 2026 15:20:31 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to a thing i have found younger researchers of the late 90s internet don't really appreciate is the number of ephemeral websites made by literal children. on Mon, 08 Jun 2026 14:45:49 GMT]]>@rose_alibi @fcbsd getting an affiliate account on cd baby didn’t require a credit card either. I know that one.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/Apiary/statuses/116715025158770630https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/Apiary/statuses/116715025158770630Mon, 08 Jun 2026 14:45:49 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to a thing i have found younger researchers of the late 90s internet don't really appreciate is the number of ephemeral websites made by literal children. on Mon, 08 Jun 2026 14:40:40 GMT]]>@rose_alibi I was making thousands at 15 making basic websites for local companies and hosting them on potatoes connected to ISDN.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/ra6bit/statuses/116715004923147035https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/ra6bit/statuses/116715004923147035Mon, 08 Jun 2026 14:40:40 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to a thing i have found younger researchers of the late 90s internet don't really appreciate is the number of ephemeral websites made by literal children. on Mon, 08 Jun 2026 14:24:29 GMT]]>@rose_alibi im a teenager and I have a website hosted on netlify that i built with HTML and CSS myself, its took about 15 hours so far to buld everything and its been very rewarding, with age verification I'm afraid that I'd either be banned or be forced to show my ID (which at that point I would just give up and stop doing the website).
the website is https://hannahsreallycoolwebsite.netlify.app/

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/116186504005115518/statuses/116714941299650809https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/116186504005115518/statuses/116714941299650809Mon, 08 Jun 2026 14:24:29 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to a thing i have found younger researchers of the late 90s internet don't really appreciate is the number of ephemeral websites made by literal children. on Mon, 08 Jun 2026 13:29:07 GMT]]>@rose_alibi I was there, and I remember all the "l33t h4xxorz" gatekeeping about "real programmers" vs "script kiddies" ... That culture hasn't really changed, just got a little more entrenched and took on more diplomatic language

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://tilde.zone/users/kirch/statuses/116714723564008569https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://tilde.zone/users/kirch/statuses/116714723564008569Mon, 08 Jun 2026 13:29:07 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to a thing i have found younger researchers of the late 90s internet don't really appreciate is the number of ephemeral websites made by literal children. on Mon, 08 Jun 2026 13:15:37 GMT]]>@spacehobo @rose_alibi I'm also late Gen-X and while I didn't run a BBS, I was calling them. I don't know the percentage of BBSes run by teenagers in the early 90s, but it must have been high.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://fosstodon.org/users/MagisterLudi/statuses/116714670513663846https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://fosstodon.org/users/MagisterLudi/statuses/116714670513663846Mon, 08 Jun 2026 13:15:37 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to a thing i have found younger researchers of the late 90s internet don't really appreciate is the number of ephemeral websites made by literal children. on Mon, 08 Jun 2026 12:52:51 GMT]]>@rose_alibi heck, I made a website when I was a kid WITH parental supervision, my dad and my uncle both learned HTML to teach me how to do it, and helped me get my little fun page online.]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://outerheaven.club/objects/65e31700-6165-4297-9373-5f7668cf84e7https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://outerheaven.club/objects/65e31700-6165-4297-9373-5f7668cf84e7Mon, 08 Jun 2026 12:52:51 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to a thing i have found younger researchers of the late 90s internet don't really appreciate is the number of ephemeral websites made by literal children. on Mon, 08 Jun 2026 12:41:46 GMT]]>@rose_alibi When I was 13 on the internet people thought I was 30. .-.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/gudenau/statuses/116714537364986029https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/gudenau/statuses/116714537364986029Mon, 08 Jun 2026 12:41:46 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to a thing i have found younger researchers of the late 90s internet don't really appreciate is the number of ephemeral websites made by literal children. on Mon, 08 Jun 2026 12:14:42 GMT]]>@rose_alibi "it is about the very ofter ignored contributions of young people to culture"
I love you for that one. Damn me if I ain't on the front seat of telling eveyone I know every few days that "young people" has the word "people" in it and it entails everything of what any other "people" are and do.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/Nawer_Rapter/statuses/116714430937520271https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/Nawer_Rapter/statuses/116714430937520271Mon, 08 Jun 2026 12:14:42 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to a thing i have found younger researchers of the late 90s internet don't really appreciate is the number of ephemeral websites made by literal children. on Mon, 08 Jun 2026 12:07:33 GMT]]>@rose_alibi I was 16 when I got connected in the 1980s. I ran much of the UUCP network in my area. In the 1990s, when I was in my 20s, I ran the first web servers in the city. I certainly offered space to anyone (for free), and I would never have thought to ask or care about anyone's age.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://todon.nl/users/mcr314/statuses/116714402852527730https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://todon.nl/users/mcr314/statuses/116714402852527730Mon, 08 Jun 2026 12:07:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to a thing i have found younger researchers of the late 90s internet don't really appreciate is the number of ephemeral websites made by literal children. on Mon, 08 Jun 2026 11:34:59 GMT]]>@rose_alibi I knew young blind people who were coding and moderating IRC servers back in the day, it was mad, but they did it. and we respected the rules too. if a 15 year old kid who'd published their rules of IRC said you'd bust them, that was it. you respected that.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://masto.nu/users/bigpawedbear/statuses/116714274759900282https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://masto.nu/users/bigpawedbear/statuses/116714274759900282Mon, 08 Jun 2026 11:34:59 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to a thing i have found younger researchers of the late 90s internet don't really appreciate is the number of ephemeral websites made by literal children. on Mon, 08 Jun 2026 11:15:13 GMT]]>@rose_alibi IIRC I had two Geocities cites: the first was a game fanpage (which used frames!) and the second was to be my personal site. I'm pretty sure the first isn't in Reocities and I've forgotten the URL of the second, and I've had a few data loss incidents over the years, so those sites may be entirely lost. (I still don't have a *personal* site.)

I vaguely remember other people's sites too, maybe linked from Yahoo? One had someone's fanfiction about the game (which seems to no longer be online), which I *think* is what inspired me to start writing my own. Also partially(?) lost to those data loss incidents.

Another story from that time period: I was looking for an email host (I can't remember why the free hosts were insufficient) and someone just ... offered to create me an account on their company server. It seems a little surprising for the time, but I *really* can't imagine it happening today. (The account eventually disappeared a few years later without a word. )

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://tech.lgbt/users/snowfox/statuses/116714197069112298https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://tech.lgbt/users/snowfox/statuses/116714197069112298Mon, 08 Jun 2026 11:15:13 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to a thing i have found younger researchers of the late 90s internet don't really appreciate is the number of ephemeral websites made by literal children. on Mon, 08 Jun 2026 10:38:45 GMT]]>@rose_alibi At 14 or 15 I was on a voice chat website for blind people talking with mainly blind adults from quite a few countries. I didn't know any other blind people where I lived, and it felt like I was the only one.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://dragonscave.space/users/KaraLG84/statuses/116714053664645563https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://dragonscave.space/users/KaraLG84/statuses/116714053664645563Mon, 08 Jun 2026 10:38:45 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to a thing i have found younger researchers of the late 90s internet don't really appreciate is the number of ephemeral websites made by literal children. on Mon, 08 Jun 2026 10:38:37 GMT]]>@rose_alibi

http://rotteneggs.com was my go to forum. I remember reading a bunch of urban exploration posts there and posting a shit tutorial about how to make a bow.

Then I remember the forum drama when the person who owned it stopped moderating and some group split off to another one but by that point I was no longer really that active

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://masto.nyc/users/gbargoud/statuses/116714053130310879https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://masto.nyc/users/gbargoud/statuses/116714053130310879Mon, 08 Jun 2026 10:38:37 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to a thing i have found younger researchers of the late 90s internet don't really appreciate is the number of ephemeral websites made by literal children. on Mon, 08 Jun 2026 09:08:34 GMT]]>@rose_alibi@post.lurk.org I was 16/17 when I learnt to write code. I made mods for an online game.
]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://snac.haijo.eu/Haijo7/p/1780909714.045868https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://snac.haijo.eu/Haijo7/p/1780909714.045868Mon, 08 Jun 2026 09:08:34 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to a thing i have found younger researchers of the late 90s internet don't really appreciate is the number of ephemeral websites made by literal children. on Mon, 08 Jun 2026 08:43:35 GMT]]>Maybe not super insane but this one comes to mind https://mastodon.online/@Pepijn/115963117610569220

It does make you wonder how many of these teens kinda kept the data but as adults are human enough to keep it private.

@juliette @rose_alibi

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.online/users/Pepijn/statuses/116713600810820159https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.online/users/Pepijn/statuses/116713600810820159Mon, 08 Jun 2026 08:43:35 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to a thing i have found younger researchers of the late 90s internet don't really appreciate is the number of ephemeral websites made by literal children. on Mon, 08 Jun 2026 08:30:36 GMT]]>@rose_alibi Every branch of history is like this. Children get written out. The evidence that they might have left gets destroyed because it's "insignificant". We know more about livestock for much of history, than we do about human children, because livestock were so much more important to adult affairs.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.nz/users/libroraptor/statuses/116713549726419514https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.nz/users/libroraptor/statuses/116713549726419514Mon, 08 Jun 2026 08:30:36 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to a thing i have found younger researchers of the late 90s internet don't really appreciate is the number of ephemeral websites made by literal children. on Mon, 08 Jun 2026 08:29:44 GMT]]>@rose_alibi I started using BBS in 89, and "the Internet" in 92-93ish. I went "online online" at home in the summer of 1994 (via a 33.6kbit/s permanent connection ...).

I was born in 78.

Never in my life have I used a "kid site" or even a teen one (unless the LGBT teen chat on IRC counts 🙃).

It's wild to me this period is now a research target. Wasn't that just yesterday‽

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.online/users/larsmb/statuses/116713546331713802https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.online/users/larsmb/statuses/116713546331713802Mon, 08 Jun 2026 08:29:44 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to a thing i have found younger researchers of the late 90s internet don't really appreciate is the number of ephemeral websites made by literal children. on Mon, 08 Jun 2026 08:09:16 GMT]]>@rose_alibi @Pepijn has a number of insane stories on this topic.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.green/users/juliette/statuses/116713465885850958https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.green/users/juliette/statuses/116713465885850958Mon, 08 Jun 2026 08:09:16 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to a thing i have found younger researchers of the late 90s internet don't really appreciate is the number of ephemeral websites made by literal children. on Mon, 08 Jun 2026 08:06:44 GMT]]>@claudius @rose_alibi I owe so much of my childhood love of the web to GeoCities, Tripod, Angelfire, and the folks who ran the .tk domain registry.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://m.alittlenook.net/users/trashpanda/statuses/116713455927957258https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://m.alittlenook.net/users/trashpanda/statuses/116713455927957258Mon, 08 Jun 2026 08:06:44 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to a thing i have found younger researchers of the late 90s internet don't really appreciate is the number of ephemeral websites made by literal children. on Mon, 08 Jun 2026 07:45:46 GMT]]>@rose_alibi@post.lurk.org

Angelfire, Geocities and Homestead
]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://b0nfire.xyz/social/firekeeper/p/1780904746.154184https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://b0nfire.xyz/social/firekeeper/p/1780904746.154184Mon, 08 Jun 2026 07:45:46 GMT