A/S/L? · *** You have entered the room · Uh-oh!

Before Social Media,
There Were Chat Rooms

From the university servers of 1988 to the sprawling forum empires of 2006, these ten platforms built the language, culture, and social norms of the internet. The timeline focuses on 1993–2006 — the era when chatrooms went mainstream. Scroll. Click to explore each platform.