@molly0xfff in 1994 we were talking about hacking the HP48 calculator in the comp.sys.hp48 newsgroup and Dave Arnett the designer of the calculator chimed in. I was in a country which five years before was behind the Iron Curtain. The ability to connect with everyone ... it was an undescribable heady feeling.

It lasted for a while... IRC and forums took over from Usenet but it was similar. It ended somewhere around 2012 (Facebook IPO) - 2013 (Vine launch, Google Reader shutdown).