BBSs are actually a little before my time, but I remember that same basic feeling once I got into forums. You'd find some random corner of the Internet, start talking to people you'd never met, and before long you actually knew these people. Then you'd end up meeting some of them in real life, which still seems kind of amazing when you think about it.

And I think you're onto something with Hive. I skipped a lot of the social networks that came after the forum era too, but Hive immediately felt familiar to me for pretty much the same reason. It still feels like a place where people are actually there, rather than just being an audience for whatever the algorithm decided to put in front of them.

Maybe we're just old. 😂