# What's the first internet "fad" you remember? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 28, 2007, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-internet-fad-you-remember/428088 "2007-11-28T21:40:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-internet-fad-you-remember/428088/21 "2007-11-28T23:45:57Z")
[QUOTE=Lamar Mundane] The first one I remember as being the thing everyone had to go out and get was After Dark screensaver software sometime in the early 90’s. > **[After Dark](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_Dark)** > > After Dark may refer to: [/QUOTE] Since my parents were early internet users and we had MacBBS when I was 5 years old or so, this would be my first as well. I loved those flying toasters! ---
**Author:** ![St\_Ides](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@St\_Ides](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St_Ides)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-internet-fad-you-remember/428088/22 "2007-11-28T23:58:54Z")
[QUOTE=mobo85] Mr. T Ate My Balls and its countless spinoffs. [/QUOTE] This is mine too. I’m 23 and have been on the internets since about ‘92. I dint’ really get heavily in to the internet before '95 though. Before then it was maybe once a month access. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-internet-fad-you-remember/428088/23 "2007-11-28T23:59:02Z")
Ate My Balls, After Dark, and Hamster Dance I remember sitting in my high school computer lab. Along with The Straight Dope, of course. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-internet-fad-you-remember/428088/24 "2007-11-29T00:03:19Z")
One of the earliest “fads” I can remember was the Good Times virus hoax, which warned that opening an email with Good Times in the title will cause a virus to spread through your machine. But we canny individuals in the internet community pompously asserted that emails can’t carry viruses because they’re just text files. Then Microsoft came along and messed all that up by creating a way for viruses to be included in emails. ---
**Author:** ![Subterraneanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Subterraneanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subterraneanus)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-internet-fad-you-remember/428088/25 "2007-11-29T00:16:12Z")
The internet. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-internet-fad-you-remember/428088/26 "2007-11-29T00:22:50Z")
[QUOTE=Troy McClure SF] Ate My Balls, After Dark, and Hamster Dance I remember sitting in my high school computer lab. Along with The Straight Dope, of course. [/QUOTE] Actually, I knew After Dark _well_ before high school. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-internet-fad-you-remember/428088/27 "2007-11-29T00:25:01Z")
Does After Dark even have anything to do with the internet? I know it could be purchased in stores, and I recall the trademark(ed) Flying Toasters even before I knew what the Internet was. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-internet-fad-you-remember/428088/28 "2007-11-29T00:33:18Z")
[QUOTE=mobo85] Does After Dark even have anything to do with the internet? I know it could be purchased in stores, and I recall the trademark(ed) Flying Toasters even before I knew what the Internet was. [/QUOTE] Not really, but whatever floats their boat. I guess the first internet fad I remember is the web. I was using e-mail and usenet before Netscape hit it big and then suddenly everyone wanted the web… ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-internet-fad-you-remember/428088/29 "2007-11-29T00:40:59Z")
alt.barney.die.die.die, maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-internet-fad-you-remember/428088/30 "2007-11-29T00:45:28Z")
I think Hamster Dance would be the first fad that I remember. I just love that tune. Marc ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-internet-fad-you-remember/428088/31 "2007-11-29T00:53:38Z")
kibology. ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-internet-fad-you-remember/428088/32 "2007-11-29T00:55:30Z")
I think it’s the Hamster Dance for me too. I was in middle school. ---
**Author:** ![Aioua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@Aioua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aioua)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-internet-fad-you-remember/428088/33 "2007-11-29T00:56:40Z")
[QUOTE=MGibson] I think Hamster Dance would be the first fad that I remember. I just love that tune. Marc [/QUOTE] Woah, woah, woah. Hamster Dance had _music?_ Speaking of early [del]internet[/del] computer fads, remeber when your sound just stopped working and you never bothered to fix it? Doesn’t seem to happen that much anymore. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-internet-fad-you-remember/428088/34 "2007-11-29T01:13:10Z")
1st web-based: Mirsky’s Worst of the Web. Before web: ASCII art email sigs Before web: FTP shareware sites wuarchive.wustl.edu, sumex-aim.stanford.edu, and mac.archive.umich.edu Before internet: BBS listings ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-internet-fad-you-remember/428088/35 "2007-11-29T02:17:03Z")
Ate My Balls was probably the first crazy meme that I remember. A couple of years later, but more imprinted on my brain, are NAPSTER BAD! and that Mahir “I kiss you!” guy. ---
**Author:** ![Pithy\_Moniker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8dc957/32.png) [@Pithy\_Moniker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pithy_Moniker)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-internet-fad-you-remember/428088/36 "2007-11-29T02:28:38Z")
There was a popular glurge Email being passed around when I first got on the Interwebs titled “Chalk proves existence of God!!” that seemed like it was never going to die. I must have received that damned letter two dozen times. This was in 1996. ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-internet-fad-you-remember/428088/37 "2007-11-29T02:29:51Z")
Downloading pornography from different bbs-es as the pictures slowly appeared from top to bottom. The thrill of the chase, and the thrill of discovery, that was. Beyond that, was there anyone who **didn’t** hear about the Neiman Marcus cookie thing? ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-internet-fad-you-remember/428088/38 "2007-11-29T02:33:13Z")
Oh! Kibology, sure! ---
**Author:** ![gatorman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@gatorman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gatorman)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-internet-fad-you-remember/428088/39 "2007-11-29T02:34:48Z")
I remember using Prodigy! Wow, that incredibly shitty online service seemed like the coolest thing in the world to my 15 year old self! ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-internet-fad-you-remember/428088/40 "2007-11-29T02:35:57Z")
[QUOTE=ArizonaTeach] Downloading pornography from different bbs-es as the pictures slowly appeared from top to bottom. [/QUOTE] Ooh, Captain Janeway. Lace: the final brassiere. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-internet-fad-you-remember/428088.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-internet-fad-you-remember/428088.md?page=3)