[hi_hi]

I would love this, but I'm afraid the genie has already been let out.

The magic was due to the friction involved. Getting into a chatroom required effort. Getting the necessary programs via CD or floppy disk. Getting your modem working with the computer, dialling up, the godawful screeching. Navigating the weird interfaces and novel programs. Then boom, you'd be chatting with people from the other side of the world, like meeting aliens from across the galaxy. They would be (mostly) nice, mature and interesting, having also navigated the friction to be there.

I remember sitting with my elder brother in a quiz chat room, full of knowledgable and intelligent people. He was using an encyclopedia book (imagine!) as a source of questions, trying to appear intelligent. They had none of it and quickly called out our ruse! Then I asked a question about NURBS which I'd been studying, and received praise for a great question.

It all demanded effort, but rewarded it at the same time.

I don't know how you can collectively go back to that.

[Terr_]

I'm now imagining a chat-service where initial access to each channel/room requires you to run your computer for ~6 hours overnight solving a mathematical puzzle, just to put "skin in the game."

[pjc50]

A service would arise so you could outsource that inconvenience for a small fee.

[nmeagent]

> The magic was due to the friction involved.

We might get some of that friction back if remote attestation succeeds in ruining the Internet for those of us who rely on free software. Connecting with any community will be trickier over mesh networking or whatever else we're left with.