[convolvatron]

don't forget the community. it was very much the case that you could look at an IETF draft or random academic paper and mail the authors and they would almost certainly be tickled that someone cared, consider your input, and write you back.

just imagine an internet pre-immigration-lawyer where the only mail you ever got was from authentic individuals, and there were no advertisements anywhere.

the only thing that was strictly worse was that machines were really expensive. it wasn't at all common to be self-funded