I’m OP and I’m 50 and female.
Old fucker. Your lot taught me an absurd amount of shit on IRC.
I’m 41.
I predate IRC and even web pages. I used telnet talkers!
I did my best, but we were poor.
Fuck it all.
In my mid IRC days I met Suzeran. She was fantastic. Ostensibly a man, but he identified as a young woman. Others in our group were furries or (why the fuck is furry a real word) whatever for the time. Dunno, but our old internet culture was about people, not politics.
So was mine. I mostly hung out in a largely gay men talker, and despite me being neither I made friends I still have today.
Yeah, it’s kinda nuts what we dealt with and/or loved.
My most awkward was a bro named Bronson. He made a joke anti-cuban song. He passed way too early. The Cuban bro that spawned the song was the person who told me about 9/11. “We’re under attack”