I’ll never forget that sound. That strange, almost musical noise of the dial-up modem connecting. Sfrrrrrr-clic-bip-beeeep-clac-sfrrrrrr… and suddenly, an entire world opened before me, pixel by pixel, on the CRT monitor screen. It was the late ’90s, early 2000s, and the internet was, for many of us, pure magic. For me, Sorin Dumitrescu – or Elysium, as I started calling myself online – it was a revelation.
IRC: The Global Chat and First True Connections
Emails were cool, websites loaded slowly, but the real revelation was IRC (Internet Relay Chat). When I discovered I could talk in real-time with people from other countries, from all over the world, it was absolutely fascinating! Suddenly, geographical limitations no longer existed. I could chat with a guy from Sweden about music, a girl from Japan about anime, or a Canadian about technology. It was a freedom of expression and an instant connection I had never encountered before.
I quickly learned how channels and commands worked. Soon, I was so deeply immersed that I started writing my own IRC bots. They weren’t anything special, but they had funny commands, responded to jokes, played simple trivia. I even made a bot that would “flood” channels where I wanted to annoy friends, just for fun. It was a digital playground, where you could be anyone you wanted, and where the rules were still being established.
Evenings at the Internet Cafe and Meetings with Strangers
I remember evenings spent at the internet cafe. Dozens of monitors in a smoke-filled room (back then, smoking was allowed everywhere!), the clatter of keyboards, and the hum of old computer fans. It was a social hub, an extension of my living room. There, in the flesh, I would meet my other “colleagues” from IRC, people I only knew by nicknames and lines of text. It was a strange, yet electrifying sensation, to come face-to-face with someone you’d shared thoughts and jokes with late into the night.
And, yes, there were “hook-ups” too. Small love stories or fleeting adventures that started with a “Hi, ASL pls?” on chat and ended with a real coffee. Those were simpler, more innocent times, I think. Or maybe I was just more innocent.
The Internet Is More Than Just Technology… A Gateway
Even now, when the internet is everywhere, in everyone’s pocket, and dial-up is just a funny memory, I still feel that spark from the beginning. There’s something about this internet… something more than just a network of computers. It’s a space of possibilities, of unexpected connections, of information that can lead you down unforeseen paths. And, who knows, maybe even towards hidden truths.
Back then, I didn’t know, but those online discussions, that freedom of information I found, were, in a way, a preamble. A preparation for what was to come. A preparation for my searches, for the Loom of Doom, for everything I later discovered alongside Count Solomon. I understood then that, even in digital chaos, there is order, there are invisible networks. And sometimes, the most important connections are made in the most unexpected places, at the end of an IRC server.
Stay connected. And, who knows, maybe even now, in certain corners of the internet, free minds still meet, just as we once did. An example? I’ll leave you a hint: irc://irc.gnosisarcanum.org:6697/