My "non-geek" friends knew how to torrent, rip mp3s, convert file formats, and patch cracked software.

There were plenty of "non-geek" people tricking out their MySpace profile.

And in the 80s, “true geeks” would type assembly language programs into their computers from magazines. In the early 90s we would use Gopher servers to get information and post to Usenet. Time marches on.

I don’t miss ripping MP3’s, converting file formats and what the heck is “patching cracked software”? I think I qualify as a true geek, and I’ve never heard of that.

> patching cracked software

Downloading commercial software, then downloading a tool to alter the binary to remove the license verification check. Alternatively, they would patch the signature check to use some known algorithm, and then you'd generate a key locally that worked.

Skater kids, emo/goth kids, preppy kids. Everybody was doing this to get Photoshop or games or whatever. This wasn't limited to computer nerds.

Kids in the 00s had to learn some skills and read warez instructional text files.

By 92, I was already in college into console games. I wouldn’t even have bothered by 1996 and just pay for stuff. I also stopped downloading music from places like Kazaa when iTunes came out.

In the 80s, I don’t know where my friends got their cache of cracked software for the Apple //.