Just curious about peoples' online experience...
I've used everything from 2400 baud to 28,8, then skipped to ADSL at work and cable at home.
My AOL handle is a reasonably common Japanese name, and contains
no numerals. That's how old my AOL account is. I remember when 28,8 AOL dialup was FINALLY available in my area.
My Compuserve bill averaged around $200/month, and it was that low only because I used Compuserve Navigator (before Netscape stole the name) to read forums offline.
I was a No-Code Tech Ham Operator until I bought my 14,4 modem.
I met the love of my life on a local BBS, and we've been together for over 18 years now.
I never had a Geocities page.
I own a dozen domain names, although I never bought one that anyone wanted to pay me millions of dollars for.
I neglected to buy Apple at $13 (four splits ago).
I designed web sites for a short time, but quit when I realized I'm more of a designer and less of a coder.
My company website (which I created and maintain) still uses frames, because they still work and aren't hurting anyone.
I never had an Earthlink account.
I did have a Delphi account for a short time, but Compuserve won that war.
I was against the rec.arts.anime split, but I never participated in the group alt.wesley.crusher.die.die.die.
One lasting effect: I'm in retail, and when our company began 30+ years ago everything came through manufacturer's rep firms. If you needed product info ("cut sheets") for displays, you ordered piles of them from the rep. In fact, 98% of your contact with any manufacturer was through an independent rep firm. If you needed a manual or schematic (hah, I am old) for a piece of equipment, you called the rep, who called the manufacturer, who then might get around to sticking what you need in the mail at some point, and you'd receive it weeks later. Now I get online and get what ever I need "instantly." I live in times of wonder.
Ok, one more thing: Most of you are familiar with artist contract riders. Imagine receiving one or two of those per day on a fax machine that used a roll of thermal paper. They were always a mess to cut apart and keep orderly, and they were always out of date. Now a road manager can email me a rider that he personally updated hours before. We all live in times of wonder.
Hope that's what you were looking for.