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[Uristisdying]

... and I'm just frigging 30! Once, upon a time, I was down with the flow. Knew every abbreviation there was. Nowadays,
it seems like memes come and go within days, and I notice myself staring at threads in various bbs's and not understanding
a word. Literally. Even though said threads are written in comprehensible english. And then people start replying to those
threads, and my confusion only grows stronger. And... and... meh.

This is just one example, but there are many more. I'm certainly not feeling old in the real world. I've been in front of computer
screens since 1984, but somehow I feel I'm losing touch with what his happening on the net.

While basically this is just a rant, I'd like to ask a few questions:

1.) Do people here in my age range have similar experiences?
2.) Is it just that because of the ever rising population on the net, it becomes too fast and complex to stay up to date with modern net culture?
3.) Am I really just an old fart in internet-years?

Cheers.

[MrWiggles]

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W17h 7h3 v4r10µ$ p0££$ Ð0n3 h3r3 ƒr0m 71m3 70 71m3 7h3 m34n ƒ0rµm173 493 h3r3 1$ h4£ƒ ¥0µr 493, 4nÐ 4 Ð3(4Ð3 ¥0µn93r 7h3n m3 jµ$7 4b0µ7.

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[Uristisdying]

1337-speak I can understand. All too well. 

[MrWiggles]

1337-speak I can understand. All too well. 

I hope the positive sympathetic sentiment was well receive with the intended ironic humor of using leet speaking.

[SalmonGod]

27 1/2 here.  It sounds like you're too worried about keeping up with things.  The net is incomprehensibly large now.  Just enjoy the things you find on your own and appreciate that everyone you meet will be able to introduce you to new things.  I think it's pretty neat.

[MrWiggles]

There is always know your meme website, to keep track of the various memes.

[RedKing]

I've got you beat by five years (both in overall age and length of exposure to computers).

The answer to all three is Yes. Now have some Jell-O and come join the bingo game over in room 2. I hear the prize is some VHS tapes of Punky Brewster...

[Uristisdying]

I hope the positive sympathetic sentiment was well receive with the intended ironic humor of using leet speaking.

It certainly was.

27 1/2 here.  It sounds like you're too worried about keeping up with things.  The net is incomprehensibly large now.  Just enjoy the things you find on your own and appreciate that everyone you meet will be able to introduce you to new things.  I think it's pretty neat.

I'm not worried. Just interested in why it is that way. I did not turn into a complete internet-illiterate overnight or something. 

I've got you beat by five years (both in overall age and length of exposure to computers).
The answer to all three is Yes. Now have some Jell-O and come join the bingo game over in room 2. I hear the prize is some VHS tapes of Punky Brewster...

\o/ Hooray! I'll fetch Gizmo and his little buddies and be right over!

There is always know your meme website, to keep track of the various memes.

Cool, thanks!

[Sergius]

I don't feel the need to know every meme out there. If one is brought up, I Google.

We're about the same age, I pretty much grew up with the internet. Ok, not really since I didn't have any until college, and home internet wasn't even available until my late 20s, and even then it was using dialup and with a per-minute charge ). But I've seen the internet grow, watched its first steps, and then it exploded into what it is now.

But seriously, there isn't anything to know. Memes are just nonsense, kinda funny sometimes. Read your tvtropes once in a while, and keep Googling. Encyclopedia Dramatica has a lots of memes but the site itself is even more nonsensical than the memes.

Most memes spawn in the least intelligent corners of the internet, generally in strange, spammy and anarchic places. Like that slash/4something/chan-thing. Just because you don't frequent those places doesn't make you old.

[lordnincompoop]

Eh, no worries Max #2. Nothing major and understandable since the Internet's exploded, and is still growing.

There are so many memes nowadays that trying to understand them all is folly. Nobody does.

One of the things that help is reading and doing stuff that's popular with that community. Bay12's interest is obviously in DF (amongst other things) and if you happened across threads here without knowing it a lot of in-jokes would probably go over your head.

[ToonyMan]

Hey, old people thread.  Where's Aqizzar?

[Cthulhu]

What about Umiman?  Umiman's so ancient his deodorant is just called Spice.

[nenjin]

Ba-ZING!

[Uristisdying]

Also, this is my first old-people thread ever. But that's alright, I always had the feeling it is my destiny to one day sit on my veranda, shouting and yelling at random people, cursing their youth/bike/manners/clothes/lack of morals/music all day long. Oh yes.

[lordnincompoop]

Because on the Internet, everything happens 40 years early.