Not that everyone approved of them, but there was an unspoken understanding that the internet was a space where the freaks are, or just where "normal" people can do, say and be all the freaky things they can't in real life (note that "freaky things" by the standards of mainstream society then could be anything from weird porn and guro to merely being LGBT). You could find every disturbing, transgressive, taboo or just inconcievably bizarre thing on the internet and most of the reactions you'd get would be "lol it's the internet, what did you expect."

And I won't lie and say I always liked it that way, I will admit that nowadays people have more tools to avoid things they'd really rather not see, but there was a certain freedom afforded by it. It was one of the first places where I felt I could be myself. We were all freaks there, after all, and there were plenty bigger freaks than me.

The internet comes with its own concept of “space.” It’s a newer invention than physical space, and a little trickier to keep track of.

When people talk about a “space” online, they can mean...

a forum or forum discussion.

the comment section on a blog, video, or anything else that comes with a comment section.

a comment chain.

a website.

a social media account. This space can “contain” anything that appears on the page, or any messages people send to the account.

a community of social media accounts.

a fandom or part of a fandom.

a hashtag or tag page.

a listing of retweets, reblogs, or shares on a post. This space can “contain” the comments people have made on the post along its journey.

That’s probably not a complete listing of types of online spaces, but you get the gist.

When someone is in their own “space,” they expect a certain amount of control over what other people say and do there.

...And, when someone is in their own space, they expect a certain amount of leeway to do and say what they like without being interrogated or told off by uninvited guests.

The concept of online space is central to how a lot of web users experience the internet and the people in it, and there's a lot of disagreement about how it works.