What old chat forums do you remember/did you use?

[StolenTeapots]

Anyone remember some parenting forums from way back?

There was babyworld which was quite sensible and had a live chat room too.

The bounty forums which had DDD - discuss debate deliberate. The equivalent to aibu. That was a bit wild.

Then there were the msn forums. People would just upload their entire family albums to random forums and everyone would post "lovely pics hun xx"

And then nethuns which seems to be empty now. They had those ticker things "my baby is 4 months old sparkle sparkle" or "7 months until Disney MICKEY PICTURE "

I miss them sometimes. The utter lack of worry about digital footprint we had back then!!!

When TTC in 1996/7 I was on a group called ONNA - no idea how I found it. It worked as a digest so you postedv to the group. Was absolutely fascinating being able to interact with strangers around the world -they were mostly in America. I actually met up with a few of them who were in the UK for a day in Brighton.

Think my first ever forum was ivillage - parenting forum.

Baby world, that had DDD too. Bounty i just couldnt get to grips with. AOL forums as they were one of the biggest providers for.dial up at the time 🤣

ivillage I was on a lot around the year 2000 I think.

Then there were the msn forums. People would just upload their entire family albums to random forums and everyone would post "lovely pics hun xx"

That is crazy 😂. A bit like family websites. Sharing your dynasty with the world.

Hip forums - topics related to the hippy lifestyle haha

I think the only forum I was a member of was Confetti when wedding planning and then TTC.

I am positive that Mumsnet years ago had an option where you could provide more details about yourself and post photos of your kids. I'm talking around 2003/4. There for anyone to look at!

Not parenting because I was at college, but in 1996 I used a chat forum on my free periods and met one of my now best friends on there!

I wish I could remember the name of it.

It was touch and go whether the thing would load up properly each day! Amazed that we ever made it to actually meeting each other. It's one reason why I didn't score so well on my A Levels. I did love spending time chatting rather than studying 🤭

The TES website used to have forums I went on a bit. They got a bit overrun by trolls though. I went on a meet up once!

I think Yahoo used to have chat forums.

I remember bad mothers club, i think it was called

Anyone remember Handbag?

Mine was not even internet based - Backchat on teletext, teenagers could write in. I remember one comment which I think sums up the whole of modern social media:

”Backchat is brill because of the stupid things you all talk about. Keep up the good work, everyone, it’s so funny!”

I used one called Baby and Bump and it was pretty wild. Talking about abortion was prohibited incase it upset anyone going through fertility problems or miscarriages. Everyone was super bitchy on there and seemed to want to know one another IRL, even added a few of them on Facebook at the time.

I was on MN from early 2004, I don’t remember any ability to post pictures then? Though back then we certainly would have done. Could it just have been links to Flickr or something?

I have been to quite a lot of MN meetups along the way, including one quite recent one, but I wouldn’t potter along to meet one mum locally like I used to, group settings only.

Not a forum as such but msn chat!

UKParents that evolved into Parents Lounge. This would have been 2002ish onwards

Not parenting but finance really, but I used to use the Motley Fool boards back in the day. Closer to Mumsnet in that there were so many topics to post under - remember lurking and working out how to get debt free using support in that group - would have been early 2000s

I was a mod on there, got me through a really painful part of my life.... I miss it!
Think it was called 'The Dog House' which was set up after a massive row and flounce on Handbag.

i remember that.

Yes, I remember.

Does anyone remember ICQ?
I used to love chatting to people from all over the world.

Phew! Glad that my brain didn't just make that up!

A comedian started a country online about 20 years ago.

I actually got some very good relationship advice from people on it as a naive 19yo

We were on Guardian Unlimited, in the Parenting Forum. Good ol' Haven Fruitbat Aunties!