X is where you find the people who think they run the Internet.
Bluesky is where you find the people who think they ought to run the Internet.
Mastodon is where you find the people who actually do run the Internet, and kind of wish they didn't.
(WIth apologies to Yes, Minister)
@hedders Back in the early to mid 90’s, I used to hang out on IRC — and those folks truly ran the Internet.
Programmers who worked on things like DNS server daemons, authors of RFCs, multiple members of the IETF, people from Cisco Systems, telco managers, ISP support folks, management at some of the largest (public) data centres in the world…
Many of them were affected by MCI Worldcom, Global Crossing, and other dot-bomb implosions years later.
I remember hanging out for Y2K, talking to people in Europe to find out if everything was still working…. Sharing our panic when planes hit the world trade centre — we knew multiple people who worked there.
Many ended up at big-name Internet companies, and either ended up as much smaller parts of huge organizations, or moved into business as CIOs or CISOs.
It’s crazy how a bunch of kids helped shape the world.
@hedders At the time, it didn't seem like much. I'm talking about the days pre-world-wide-web... FTP, Gopher, eMail, IRC, Usenet... Hell, just getting connected was a huge ordeal. My first access to the internet was over dial-up to one of Canada's first public ISPs, which simply connected me to a shell server with a few menu options -- no PPP, no SLIP, no TCP/IP stacks on my computer.
It was truly a weird scene...
our first dialup was a SLIP Connection to the point of presence of Munich ECRC (European Computer-Industry Research Center) one of the first German ISPs (now Cable&Wireless).
However, before we could establish a connection, I first went to the ECRC to have a tape recorded with the necessary software for SLIP. Then I had to compile all the stuff on a SPARCstation 1, and I was able to connect to the network with an illegal modem and a blazing speed of 9600 kbit/s.
@JustinDerrick
It didn't feel like it was super important at the time, but it was fucking MAGIC to find a new FTP site with something you didn't even know you wqnt3d until that moment.
I worked at one of those mid 90s Canadian ISPs that charged twice as much for a SLIP/PPP account. Marketing ignorance playing on customer ignorance.
@JustinDerrick @hedders yeah, but why were they so complicit in creating these business models based on invading peoples privacy - or the algorithmic feeds that manipulate people, or the exploitation, or or or...
I really wonder why there was not a bigger outcry.
Yes, wild times and of course I know the "good" people as well, but it's that generation that laid the foundation of what's wrong now with this sector.
@wonshu @hedders To the best of my knowledge, none of the folks I knew had ventured to the dark side -- we all understood the benefits of anonimity, because it was trivially easy to identify people in the early days...
Back in the day, your IP usually gave away your location or the name of the organization you worked for (or the school you attended).
Your UNIX login name was closely related to your real name. Services like 'whois' and 'finger' and 'ident' made it trivially easy to geolocate networks, or definitively identify folks. Hell, the phone number and names of network admins was (and still is to a lesser degree) listed in WHOIS records -- getting someone in trouble was as easy as picking up the phone and tattling.
@JustinDerrick @hedders well the one thing that was always in the air was that advertising would be the best way to finance services on the web.
But yes, I absolutely believe you and I know myself, that there have always been decent people.
@faduda … and the people who don’t care who runs the Internet as long as there’s still warez and pr0n?
(Showing my age there perhaps)
@hedders Tumblr is for the people who think the Internet should be run the way it used to be run.
Dreamwidth is for the people who think it still is.
Livejournal is for the people who think the Internet should be run by the Russians.
Onlyfans is for people who don’t care who runs the internet as long as she gets her kit off.
@hedders
Instagram is where you find the wives of the people who run the internet.
Linkedin is where you find the people who own the internet.
Telegram is where you find the people who think the internet should be run by different people.
Truth Social is where you find the people who think it is.
People on Onlyfans don't care who runs the internet as long as she's got big tits.
@hedders Actually: NO. The folks that really run then Internet are using Mailing lists, fragments of UUnet and other things.
(says some guy who runs the Internet)
@tanteju5 Ah, fair. It's a bit of a specific reference. It's this:
TiZed
Hedders
Gary 
JonChevreau 🇨🇦
Ben Curthoys
Jack the Waterlogged Count
🔶Mark Nicoll 3.5%🏴🇬🇧🇪🇺🇺🇳
DasSkelett
Adriano
donkey
I AM BANKSY ☕ / 🗑🔥
zygmyd
Justin Derrick
echopapa
Hans Hafner
Paul Armstrong
Irenes (many)
🎃 jack
Monte Freeman
Gerard Cunningham ✒️
Jake in the desert
Tommi Nieminen
Viss
Sandra Bond
Karl Auerbach
Michael
\ˈthē-ˈˈärd-ˌvärk\
chris48s
Bard 
Bart Champagne ON6BC 
Martin
Nikkileah 🎮🚄🏳️⚧️🇬🇧
Pete