I miss the old internet | Science Fiction and Fantasy World

Is it just me or is today's internet boring and overly commercialized? I feel like today's internet is like a modern mall, sterile and boring with just main-brand clothing stores, a food court, and not a lot else. Whereas I feel like the old internet was more like an exciting urban playground.

On the other hand:

I think it's easy to forget we're not the same people we were 20-25 years ago. I see all sorts of lamentations about various things in the world changing and becoming less magical. But as far as I'm aware, I could still go and argue about bands in chatrooms. I could talk to other writers and dream about my future best-selling novels. I could go read random opinions about any subject and get into an exhilarating flamewar about it. I don't want to do any of those things.

And:

Yup. "Today's IRC" — the place for kids to idle around and make friends — isn't Discord; it's Minecraft. (Not that weird; Minecraft is a low-stakes graphical MUD, and MUDs have always served double-purpose as chatrooms.)

“They don’t make them like they used to.”

“Music was so much better when I was a kid.”