thanks to archivists at the GLBT Historical Archives in California, we now have open access to the first four years of TGForum.com, as compiled on an official CD-ROM back in 1999. it is an absolutely bonkers treasure trove of early-internet trans culture and politics, warts and all, and I wrote about it for Them!
this was a really fun piece to research but took a LONG time, so I hope you enjoy reading it! I have a few stories that I had to cut for room (I already doubled my planned word count as it is) so I will thread them here soon. If you find something cool in this archive I didn't mention, let me know in the comments!!
EDIT: I totally forgot that the archivist is on cohost! Give @caraesten some appreciation (and thanks @atomicthumbs for the reminder)
Really fun seeing a lot of this. I think probably most people I know already know this, but I'm moderately old in "trans years". I started exploring the trans web in the 90s and came out in person in 2003, so a bunch of this is the kind of thing I saw back when it was new. I don't share that nostalgia with many people I know, so I don't see it around very often!
(Though I'll say, it's kind of funny to headline this with a trans meme that's at least 20 years newer than the actual stuff the article's about)
