It is unfortunate that :reddit-logo: has a near-monopoly on what used to be numerous and diverse forums all over the internet, but I definitely don't miss the Early-2000s to 2010s tendency to put pretentious and often edgy forum signatures after posts.
I'll provide some examples of what kind of forum signatures made me hate forum signatures in general, for context.
Sun Tzu quotes. :cringe:
Tyler Durden was supposed to be a malevolent presence that had to be literally shot out of the protagonist's head so he could have some peace, not a fountain of deep profound wisdom about how we're all rotting pieces of meat and anyone who says otherwise is a special snowflake, you proto-chudlings. :kombucha-disgust:
Heath Ledger's Joker, while well acted, was sort of fucking horrible for pop culture in general and a lot of weird nerds really ran with his performance and that also made his lines dreadfully common in forum signatures. Yes, I'm "so serious" because some things matter, you proto-chudlings. :disgost:
Fuck Terry Goodkind and each and every proto-chudling that quoted his Ayn Rand With More Sexual Violence And Swords garbage books in their forum signatures, too. Even the concept of "Wizards' First Rule" was just a precursor to the worst side of the Rick & Morty fandom. "Lol, everyone is stupid but me because I am sociopathic and selfish!" :guts-rage:
Oh yeah, last but not least, fuck each and every proto-chudling that quoted Ayn Rand anything in their forum signatures. :gulag:
In this, the year of our Lord 2022, I wish to show my age by mourning the humble AOL CD-rom. While great for craft projects, the sheer amount of waste created by them probably fills multiple landfills. At least, when AOL originally sent out 3.5" floppies, it was possible to reformat and reuse them. The abominable coasters sent out almost monthly, on the other hand, did nothing but clutter the mail and the trash. I would also argue that their ubiquity led to the beginnings of bad crafting on the internet as people filled forums with 101 shitty craft projects that could be done with used CDs, including windchimes, coasters, wall hanging, and other kitsch. AOL CDs, you will not be missed.