cozy 90s BBS forums, obscure blogs, etc.
I was there, Gandalf, when we named hosts after your horse and didn’t pronounce the “dot” in “.com”
Not a website, but since you mention BBSes…one thing that would look pretty familiar to a 1990s Internet user would be most of the text-based MUDs, the ancestor of MMORPGs, that are around.
The MUD Connector is still around, and still has a list of active MUDs.
While I suspect that most dedicated MUDders use dedicated clients, the base protocol is still normally telnet, and you can use a plain old telnet client to play…a protocol that predates Internet Protocol itself.
I still mud on occasion. I used TinyFugue back when i started mudding in 88 or 89 (maybe lot was 89/90). I then used zMUD and later cMUD for years. Now I use MUDlet.
It’s pretty niche, but https://alternativess.com (sport archery retailer)
I’m on a couple forum sites still (both phpbb I think). I still read fark.com but rarely if ever comment anymore.
Not the original, but…
My healthcare services websites. Their website and mobile app require separate logins. The website logs in then redirects to a completely different website.
They have a tax-free “store” that feels like a completely different website.
Everything is laid out using what seems like the idea of middle management and not modern design philosophy.
TreasuryDirect also feels classic. If you’re not familiar, it’s a US government website to buy and sell certain types of treasury bonds. Some great features:
- an image so you know you didn’t typo your username (haven’t seen that in well over a decade)
- clicking a link is a new page, and clicking back breaks stuff and makes you login again
- until recently, you couldn’t paste in the password field
It does do some modern-ish things with page layout, but not that modern, like maybe early 2000s modern. But it’s perennially stuck about 20 years in the past.
Slashdot is closed source, use SoylentNews instead.
Ebay
I imagine their source code is such an unmaintainable mess that it’s impossible to modernize
it was written in FORTRAN
If you want one that isn’t actually from that time, just feels like it, I’d say https://tildes.net/