It's not so much the length of time we've been around, it's more the idea that you can't do that now, the internet's too different.

Ah, I see what you mean now.

Beatrice's experiences are specific to a bygone time and television show -- making friends online was an entirely different proposition ten years ago, when the Internet wasn't overrun with millions of eleven-year-old MySpace users, and internet-savvy Buffy fans were an even more rarefied group.

I think that's crap. I continue to make friends online and socialize with them in meatspace. It's never exactly the same as b.org, but each community has its own flavor. The internet is different; it's a hell of a lot bigger and busier. I think the social networking tools available to us now might make it easier to find like-minded people, but who knows, maybe that's because I've been around long enough that I know how and where to look.

Anybody see NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day today? Link

Anybody see NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day today? Link

I totally want to live there.

I think that's crap. I continue to make friends online and socialize with them in meatspace. It's never exactly the same as b.org, but each community has its own flavor. The internet is different; it's a hell of a lot bigger and busier. I think the social networking tools available to us now might make it easier to find like-minded people, but who knows, maybe that's because I've been around long enough that I know how and where to look.

ITA. I was online and chatting in communities by '94, but I didn't find b.org until '04.

So. Freakin. Cool.

I think it's funnier when you know that I grew up in Westchester County. The suburbs are so subversive.

I'd love to see the orbital paths of those stars mapped out.

I think the social networking tools available to us now might make it easier to find like-minded people

I agree. People I've known for 20 years are finally finding both people they already know on the internet, and using things like meetup.com to meet similarly minded strangers.

But 10 years ago they'd have looked at me funny, because they didn't spend time online.

I was online and chatting in communities by '94, but I didn't find b.org until '04.

I was online and chatting by '96, found b.org around '00, Livejournal in '03. The majority of my social circle are people I've met online, whether I've known them for 10 years or 3 months.

People I've known for 20 years are finally finding both people they already know on the internet, and using things like meetup.com to meet similarly minded strangers.

Or, in my case, when I brought meatspace friends into the internet.

One of the things that I love about the internet is that no matter where I am, I have a friend in 50 miles. When I first started doing a lot of work travel, I would bring work to do so I wouldn't get bored at night. I quickly stopped doing that because it was useless since I was always meeting/getting reacquainted with people from my threads.

Got the recipe for that 'shine?

He took it to his grave. He used to pay my mother a nickle a jar for washing the mason jars he sold it in. He was also quite proud that "nobody ever went blind drinkin' his recipe."

The b.org was different from other communities even at our conception, I think. I mean, when I came to you, I was coming straight from the gaming world, which was full of preteens and crazed obsessive people. It was fine, too, and I made long term friends in that environment too, just different sorts of relationships.

I think it's less an artifact of time and more something specific to us. Which is why I fight so fiercely to protect Us.

The book is a love song to a specific community, but I don't think we're antiques. I think we were weirdos then and we are now and it's nifty.