how old are you?

[Wildcat Media]

Dial-up was the "wild west" compared to what we have today. We had a local FreeNet we could dial into for limited amounts of time, and I remember they had a chat there that was popular. It's possible they had email as well--I vaguely remember having a FreeNet email address. There were a few BBSes I dialed into as well. I was primarily with CompuServe but did have GEnie briefly. CompuServe really made sense when the WinCIM software came along--it was a windowed interface that made getting around a bit easier. They also had a companion product that displayed threaded messages, and allowed us to read forums and compose messages and replies offline, connecting only for a minute or two to upload and download new activity.

 

[Mendalla]

We had a local FreeNet we could dial into for limited amounts of time, and I remember they had a chat there that was popular. It's possible they had email as well--I vaguely remember having a FreeNet email address.

I was part of the group that started the Community Network (similar concept to a FreeNet) in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Had an email there for a while using Pine as the client. It was technically work for me since the library I worked for was a partner in the project, but it was kind of fun, too.