It might not seem like that long ago to some of us, but the Internet of 2001 was an entirely different Internet from today’s. Social media was almost literally nonexistent. There was no Facebook, no Twitter, not even MySpace yet. There was no Instagram, Snapchat, or TikTok. Forums existed, but there was no Reddit yet. YouTube was still four years out. Amazon was but a humble bookseller. Google had already pulled out to the front of the search engine pack, but was also still—at least nominally—trying to Not Be Evil.
Another major difference was that blogs had a lot more cachet in those days. I speak mainly of blogs that were on their own websites, though LiveJournal and Xanga added their own flavor to the online stew by bringing the concept to a less tech-savvy crowd, giving those who fancied themselves the stars of their own lives a spotlight to shine on themselves.1 But a blog that was on its own website was a different animal. You weren’t yet able to do what I did, which was find a website that would accommodate your modest hosting needs, pay a year upfront to gain access to the WordPress suite, find a layout you like, maybe tweak it a bit, and start pounding out the words. You either had to build the thing yourself from the ground up, or have someone who could do that do it for you.
And in the almost incomprehensibly different world of 2001, that’s exactly what Wil Wheaton did.
In today’s episode, when Jake and Nog find a self-replicating action figure in the basement, their many little Moops soon turn into one big Oops. Meanwhile, upstairs, a strange gold dust is draining power and clogging the A/C faster than O’Brien can change the filters. Is there actually a such thing as an inherently funny word? What’s undog? And who can honestly say they’re not interested in Garak’s childhood? All this and more in Cardassian Imps, the book that will never win a Dove Award.
In today’s episode, if Voyager’s next rest stop doesn’t have a decent snack selection, they won’t make it to another one. But when the natives take an acute interest in their transporter tech, Janeway has to decide if a full pantry is worth the trade. Why is Voyager always so chill about classism? What’s the deal with the one human on the planet? And whose leola root stew did Joie Sakhlova pee in? All this and more in The Garden, or, I Can’t Believe It’s Not British!