Like back when the internet was a thing that people actually had to put effort into participating in so the average quality of content and engagement was consistently high more often than it was low.

Back when you actually had forums dedicated to single areas of interest, run by people who were interested in that thing "just coz".

I feel like Hacker News is literally the last little glint of light in a sea of seething darkness... it makes me nostalgic for the internet we had and lost.