“So, you mean they’re homophobic?”
“Well, no, but-”
“So they’re misogynistic? Racist? Transphobic? Ableist???”
“N-no, actually they enforce strict banning on all those things, BUT-”
“So they bully people into suicide?”
“Nooo, they require content warnings for even mentions of suicide, BUT!”
“…Yes?”
“I saw one of them say 'death to nazis!”
“So they’re the opposite of 4Chan?”
“NO!”
Hexbear captures a bit of the wonder of the early days of the internet for me. It’s something that was lost in time but has now returned in the year of our lord 2023. Hexbear has quickly become my favorite online community/forum. Its unique culture, including features like ‘struggle sessions’ about outdoor cats, makes it even more endearing. Additionally, the news megathread is greeeeat.
many people are saying this
Yeah, being on Hexbear/Chapo.chat the past few years with various accounts is the first time I’ve felt that internet community spark I had back when I was on forums with IRC channels.
I mentioned this on one of those “why did you pick your instance” threads right after federation, but it’s so true. The whole vibe here really does recapture some of the great parts of the late 90s early 2000s small independent BBS experience that was all but wiped out by Facebook and
. It’s got a kind of coziness and unique culture that I thought was gone from the Internet forever. It’s great.
Yep. I think that makes it incredibly off-putting to people who aren’t expecting that, but that’s why I love this place.
Especially folks who are too young to have been a part of that Internet. It’s hard to believe, but this is like what being online was like 25 years ago.
Remember when you remembered people’s names and avatars and forum sigs and made connections with real people? The internet used to be like that! Some parts of it were very cool! We felt a sense of community for our little corners of the internet!
I appreciate hexbear bringing back that feeling.
Be honest, was this ChatGPT?
I only use chatgpt to correct grammar and punctuation
Like, news groups?
That and lots of early forums for me, definitely.