I was caring for a dying family member when I got online. It allowed me to interact with others in spite of the fact that I was tethered to the house. At first I accessed through WebTV. I didn't know exactly what I was getting into and wasn't prepared to spend a lot of $ until I committed to it. WebTV was clunky and cumbersome, but I got a sense of the internet using that technology.
Then I bought a desktop and accessed through dial-up. Being online and having the ability to point and click and to type via a keyboard again was wonderful.
My first interactive encounter with others was on another conservative forum. I got ZOTTED several years later when I refused to drink the Trump kool-aid, but for many years I had great fun over there. There was even a chatroom associated with that site or at least with some of the early members. We had a lot of silly fun as well as serious discussions.
I used to post at HGTV where liberals and conservatives would butt heads on a regular basis. HGTV got tired of us and shut down those boards. There were several offshoots from those HGTV boards, and I still post at one of them. Those sicko leftists followed us all over the internet, but we were finally able to shake them after a couple of years. I had a little board for a small group of very smart women for a few years. It was our attempt to get away from the leftists. A code word was needed, so they were unable to get past me. Apparently it worked.
