[Zancarius]

I remember getting lost on hornet.org somewhere around this time frame, impressed by so much free music (if a bit cheesy by today's standards). There was plenty to do, if you knew where to look, and like others have said: IRC/Usenet were helpful to that end. Local BBSs were still around but starting to fade, but some (WorldGroup) had the capability to serve as Usenet readers or IRC clients for machines that didn't have their own installed.

Gosh, I think I still have an archive of MODs, S3Ms, and others somewhere on a backup drive.

This article does offer a window into the life of the average person who saw little use in the Internet, either by lack of curiosity or the walled gardens of AOL. I think it should also serve as a warning to us to keep the Internet open.