I recall some of the old BBS (Bulletin Board Systems) that were almost dot matrix typeset, but not Black Vault. I look now and find references to unclassified docs, UFOs, and such.
Black Vault was my first internet experience, thanks to David (now deceased) who basically dragged me into that realm. The forum was in the 'tree' form at first, and didn't even require a password, just a user name. Anyone could type in anyone else's user name and just start blathering away! It got really comical at times, sort of a Three-Stooges-in-the-Wild-West sort of thing, or else just flaming. I was wondering if anyone recalled the colorful characters there at that time. 'Sandra,' who claimed to hunt deer in the wilderness with a bow and arrow and then carry the carcass out on her back. Or the woman who claimed that aliens were constantly coming into her house and forcing her to drink a gallon of Pepsi each time they showed up. Political discussion was present but exhausting, with several 'personas' descending on any serious topic like a swarm of murder hornets, which of course didn't yet exist. I got tired of that pretty soon, and switched to diaries, which were also super-simple and chaotic at that time. I'm not really trying to make a point of any sort, just remembering stuff and laughing! ((( ‘‿’ ))
I didn't do a lot of online stuff in the early days. I bet a lot of our early experiences are region-specific, even down to the neighborhood level, due to when the internet may have come to town. I don't think I even got DSL until the mid-1990s, and at that, it was spotty. It's like cable TV. Some regions had it literally decades before others did. My early forum experiences were when there was feature-rich forum software. I can't imagine the DOS-based wild [unmoderated] west.
Funny thing, my earliest internet experience was on something called WebTV. David needed internet for his work, but didn't want to risk that computer for just goofing around. So he got something we could use recreationally --- comfortable, since you could lean back on pillows, but also painfully slow. You'd doze right off!
Like so many others, I started off with dial-up. Then DSL came to my neighborhood. In order to qualify for DSL, you have to be within a given distance of certain phone equipment (a switching station.) I qualified, and they installed it. It was great for a while, and then it stopped working when they installed service for a neighbor and screwed mine up in the process. I recall going to work, calling Tech Support as soon as I got in, putting it on speaker phone as I was on hold, and leaving at the end of the day without my call ever being answered. This went on for several days. I eventually got accidentally transferred to a tech (and not a customer support person) who confirmed what I already knew...they changed the settings at the local junction box (DSLAM) to get the neighbor up & running, and it screwed me in the process. The result? I got a letter cancelling my service, stating that I was too far away from the switching station, even though they previously stated I was within range and things worked fine until they did the subsequent install. I was back to dial-up until cable TV/internet finally came to my house.
I first went online in 1994 with America Online. Stayed there for probably a couple of years then started expanding out into the actual world wide web. I remember reading back then that someone had estimated there were about 20 million web pages (or sites?) Ha, I think there's a few more than that now. I really don't remember any forums I was on aside from those at AOL. I remember using "Newsgroups" and "Internet Relay Chat." I was on dial-up until 2005 when I went on DSL. It had already been available on my dirt road but I never knew it. As soon as I realized it I hooked up. It worked okay, but the best thing about it was being online and taking phone calls at the same time. I was on DSL until two years ago when Spectrum came through with fiber lines. TBH, I don't see much difference especially for page loading. My laptop is only two years old, but the available speed is faster than it can handle. My Amazon account and Schwab account were started in 1997, and a Yahoo email address that I still use was created in maybe 1996.
Like the rest of you, I started with DOS, the very slowww and expensive dial-up, than got DSL when it later became available. My most used chat site was IRC (internet relay chat), then AIM, later the Yahoo chats, and there were quite a few other chat sites in the 1990s, many more and easier to use than today. At least that was my experience for several decades. IRC is still going, but not as prominent as it was, and now everything is more controlled by outsiders. We're no longer allowed to make our own chat sites and chat rooms, at least not like we were in the 1990s.
One of the interesting social things this technology brought about was Instant Messaging. Before it came along, I would never have thought of picking up the phone and calling a coworker (unless we were friends outside of work.) When IM came along, if you saw a coworker online when you both were at home, somehow it did not feel intrusive to ping them. I've been on the receiving end many times. I couldn't even tell you when I stopped using IM.
I remember the old-style computers we had at work were the MS-DOS type, and we had to copy the floppy disks every single night before closed the office, plus the boss had a set that he took home at night, just in case the computer crashed. Later, I had my own computer, but only did email. My daughter was in the Army, and stationed in Germany, so phone calls were pretty much out of the question. The email worked great, because i could write to her from my time zone, and she could answer when she was able to do, instead of one of us being in the middle of the night. I had dial-up forever, and the one that I had in Idaho would stop working when it rained, some sort of a bad connection with the outside phone box apparently. I didn’t belong to any chats except for the Yahoo Groups, and also their instant messaging later on. I liked the Yahoo Groups, and think that the Facebook groups are somewhat similar. I am so glad not to have to use dialup anymore ! I can remember Robin sending me a picture and it took over a half hour to download, and the first couple of tries, the connection got cut off and I had to start over. I said do not ever send me any more pictures !
And now texting, which people generally don't appreciate until they actually use it for a while. It has long gone beyond kids sending jokes to each other, etc. I bet half (or more) of the texts floating around in cyberspace are business-related. "Hey Joe, give me a call when you have a chance," is much less intrusive, and the recipient doesn't have to stop what he's doing to answer the phone with all the formalities, etc. I usually do this with my friends also. Cold calls between friends still happen, but something less than half of the time I would think.
Or in my case, interrupting their work. I never know if one of my kids are busy, in a conference, or just not able to talk for some reason; so I always send a text and ask them to contact me when they are not busy. Usually, we all keep up with each other via IM/text, and we have a special message group that is just for myself and all three of my kids. I really love the iMessage because it works on all of my Apple devices, and even shows up on my watch. There are short answers that you can choose from the watch to let someone know you are busy or will call back, and when I do not have my phone close by, I sometimes use that function to answer.