Instant Messenger with people I knew
IRC channels for interests
Forums for specific topics
A Web Ring for my James Bond website
Back then, the Internet felt like an actual place I went to. I would sit down at the computer, dial up, and enter a space that had boundaries. When I was done, I left, and that separation made the time I spent there feel focused and real. You couldn't take it with you, and that was a feature, not a bug. Social Media (Facebook), where you actually talked to people you knew and shared experiences with them
It hadn't yet become a content distribution machine. It was still a tool for connection.
1. I don't like surprise breakages. I am not prepared to fix a service my family uses midday on a Tuesday when I am working since it auto updated. I'd like to specifically make sure I have dedicated time and plan if something is going to go wrong.
2. My family HATES when things change. I try to run LTS versions of things, but annoyingly, some software like nextcloud doesn't have LTS version. One of the things my family likes the most, is that the stuff I host isn't constantly changing like commercial products. Having google photos change or netflix have a new interface randomly is very, very frustrating for them.
Since my homelab is completely internal, I avoid quickly doing updates (unless it is a critical security issue), and definitely avoid doing major version upgrades unless there is good value in it.