I liked this article, yes it's yet another "The internet was better back in my day" posts, but I could totally relate to it. I can only just remember my early forays into the internet, and while a little late to the party, I definitely had my fair share of internet girlfriends.
So Hubski, did you ever have an internet boyfriend / girlfriend? How did you meet, and did you ever take it IRL?
TALK commands and PINE and meeting people on rec.music.industrial. IE3? Mosaic was a revelation. The Internet was so small back then that one girl I met was known by friends I had back home, even though they were 2000 miles away. We'll call her Amber. That was back when sending photos involved a stamp. The more things change, the more they stay the same - the photos were of a younger, thinner girl and the creature that showed up at the airport was... not that. I still have the photos. Then as now it's super easy to maintain an online relationship with a person you can't stand to share a room with; when everything has to be typed, there's a lot more room for benefit of the doubt. Amber made me miss Molson Indy Vancouver. Then I overslept before I got her to the airport (she slept in another room, thankyouverymuch) and I put a $700 plane ticket on my credit card just to get her the hell away. Oddly enough, I ended up hanging out with one of her friends online (Becky?), and then ended up dating her friend's friend (Candace?). Twice. LinkedIn just asked me last week if I knew Candace, even though we haven't talked since 2005. I know one of my wife's friends delivered her baby here in Los Angeles (her name isn't actually Candace, it's distinctive as fuck because her mother literally made it up). Becky I talk to from time to time. We were going to be in a band together. She moved up to Seattle to be with me and Candace, and the whole ugly thing exploded. Amber? Amber showed up at a concert I mixed. She'd moved to Seattle, too. The scene was still alive, 10 years later. Funny thing is those pictures? of Amber? From 1994? They're in a photo album next to... let's call her Zena. A legit penpal that I met six months earlier, before any of us had heard of email. I've got Zena's photo, and I've got Amber's photo. Zena I can't even remember her name. Amber I could probably find a phone number for in two minutes on Facebook. That's the Internet.
The internet was more simple back then, meeting someone in real life that you had spoken to only through an online chat room was a big risk. Today, kids that age have access to web cams and skype, so even if the person is far away from you, meeting them (virtually) is still an option.