Internet - Things I miss

I don't think this was a thing in the US, was it? A blogging platform. It was the main thing in Belgium back in 2005, 2006, 2007. Then Facebook started gaining popularity.

Just checked, it's still a thing. French website with games and funny videos. I mostly remember the games.

This was actually super helpful to learn English. My English was shit and I got to talk to people from the US and other parts of the world. I also tried Omegle and others.

I remember one specific person from Australia or New Zealand who I ended up communicating with somehow because we were both fans of a TV show. She was an actress. I specifically remember not knowing how to say "did you go to" and ended up asking "do you went" and she corrected me.

I also remember watching Pushing Daisies and the exact moment I learned the word "empty", when they were talking about discovering an empty coffin.

I created a few forums back when this was a thing. One was a general forum about everything, then I had two about movies, one about the USA (I was reallllly into the USA and its history when I was 13), one about the TV show Heroes. Damn that's a lot. All in French.

A French streaming site to watch The Simpsons. It had a forum, probably the first one I ever used. That's how I made two of my friends who I still talk to 16 years later. One of them I haven't seen in years, one of them I see maybe one a year on average (maybe less these days) but we're not as close as we used to be. I'd say he was one of my best friends for a while.

It was so exciting when you'd actually find the thing you were trying to stream. I remember finding Die Hard 4 in excellent quality like it was a major achievement.

I'd create a persona and talk to people. Looking back on it, it was unethical as fuck. When I was around 15 I pretended to be a member of a fictional cult and tried to get a 13-year-old on board (not an actual cult, it was for the giggles, but still). Fucked up, but also fascinating now that I think about it.

Yeah, not very safe. I encountered at least one pedo.

Was this a thing in the US? That's the first thing I used the internet for, back when I was 8. That's how I'd chat with friends, acquaintances and friends of friends. There would be group chats with people I didn't know and sometimes that would lead to some sort of online friendship or even something ambiguously romantic.