🧵 those who grew up in #canada in the #90s might remember something called the Canada SchoolNet in their classrooms and computer labs.
if you don't recognize the name, the SchoolNet was a canada-wide attempt at computerizing and networking together canadian classrooms from K-12. (the US-equivalents of this were EdNet and Global SchoolNet)
in my redneck farmtown, wiring us up to the SchoolNet meant connecting a 28.8kbaud modem to a macintosh FirstClass #BBS Gateway 40 km away, and letting us kids post messages to other kids across canada. these messages were store-and-forwarded via gateways until they reached their destination, often thousands of km away.
as it turns out, the schoolnet forums were peered by #usenet, and dejanews archived them all in the late 90s... which means they're all on google groups now.
in a fit of "i can't put this shit down" at 1am, i spent hours digging out posts i found of myself, and other kids in my grade, starting flame wars, discussions, and pen-pal requests in 1995...
