The Internet Used to Have Places

The Internet used to have places. That sounds a little strange, because the Internet still has addresses, domains, servers, and sites. Technically, the places are still there. But the ordinary experience of being online has changed. A lot of what people now call the Internet happens inside a few large systems where everything is flattened into feeds, profiles, timelines, recommendations, and search results. Older online spaces had more edges. A BBS had a name, a phone number, a sysop, message boards, file areas, door games, regulars, rules, and usually some local flavor. A forum had sections, moderators, old threads, in-jokes, arguments, and regulars who knew the room. A personal website had its own layout, odd links, favorite subjects, broken corners, and evidence that a particular person had arranged it by hand. These spaces could be ugly, clumsy, badly moderated, or hard to find. They were still recognizably themselves. That sense of place came partly from limitation. You had to go…