Around the same time, I frequented many Final Fantasy-centric message boards. To name a few: ffx2.net, eyesonff.com, and adventchildren.net. I also discovered the world of fan shrines and fanlistings. They were and still are one of my favorite pastime on the internet. So, combine all these occurrences and growing up when forums and shrines were common and popular web spaces, my love for this community just... never died.
English is my second language, and as a kid on the web in the late 1990s to mid 2000s, I was mostly a lurker and spent most of my time online admiring things afar. I was afraid I may not communciate myself properly, therefore others would misunderstand me and my writings. I dreamt of owning my own domain, but my family grew up poor and my parents would have never allowed me to get one. Now that I am a working adult with a full time job, I currently own several domains now! Kid-me would be so happy!
With big corporations trying to control and turn the internet into a monolith, it may sound silly, but I have fond memories of the internet back when it wasn't so common and less corporate. Each year, the direction of the digital age continues to disappoint me. Which is why, I am here trying to keep a part of the small/indie web community alive.