I'll throw this out there, but if anyone is looking for a classic-style Internet forum/community, come check out the Something Awful forums. It's very much alive and kicking, with subforums for every interest: cooking; comics and video games; cars; art, movies, and literature; music creation and consumption; DIY crafts like woodworking, knitting, and metallurgy; the list goes on and on. It is excellently moderated, and the paywall goes a long way to keeping out the crap that floods every other Internet community, and provides a revenue stream that doesn't involve abusing its users. Yes, there are some regrettable things in the site's long history, and no community populated by humans is perfect, but these days it is probably the most progressive and accepting large community on the Internet. I've been a daily poster there for over 14 years and I can't imagine ever leaving it.
Agreed, it's a great place (my account is 10 years old) and now that it's under new, competent ownership I'm looking forward to good things. Critically important that new posters (and old posters) stay out of D&D and CSPAM, though.
Wow, that brings back the memories. They used to have a repository for crank phone calls, and there was a series of cranks to some bar on the east coast that got completely out of control. I remember the Beasty Boys talking and laughing about the bar crank call series in some interview. I can't confirm this, but didn't the Beasty Boys get their Cookie Puss audio from Something Awful's crank phone call repository?
