What's the deal with your nickname? How did you get it? If your nickname is self-explanatory, then tell everyone when you first started using the internet, and what was the first thing that made you say "wow, this isn't just a place for freaks after all?" Was it a website? Was it an email from a long-lost friend? Go on, spill it.
Nothing mystical, netbros is but a contraction of Internet Brothers, my web site.
My Net birth was January 1994. Usenet and BBS were fine, they maintained my interest, but discovery of Gopher and the ability to integrate graphical elements opened my eyes and mind to the limitless possibilities. A Mosaic installation diskette found in one of those "Getting Started on the Internet" books secured the deal. I've been "in" the Net ever since.
What is it that makes the Internet so compelling to so many? Aside from the obvious fun and entertainment, educational and business opportunities, and show-offism; I think it boils down to a slogan taken from the eighties. No fear! The playing field is level. Size doesn't matter, really. Inhibitions and reservations are out the window when that modem begins its rhythmic chatter. No hidden emotions, just pure, most-times rational thought.
Internet life is people with diseases and addictions, exposing souls and sharing their recoveries. It's about overviews of history warning future generations not to repeat the mistakes of their predecessors. Sure there are a few kooks to throw us off guard, but mostly the Net is just us being ourselves without fear of reprisal. How refreshing.
The Internet is people talking and sharing ideas. Our best and brightest, wallflowers and flower children, the girl next door and the Doc who delivered your kids. It's about you and me. We are all using our own cognizant voices, and we're listening too. We're challenging the status quo, and we're offering alternatives. Collaboration on a global scale all tied together by that simplest of cyber friendships, the hyperlink. Communication has never seen anything like it.
This spirit of community will ultimately be the lasting legacy of the first fifty years. Not the gazillionaires. Not the top-down control freaks of guerilla commerce. Instead, it will be the work-at-home moms, the redneck artists and poets, the shy nerds with decades of expression to release. I'm delighted to make your acquaintance.
