I don't know when I first found pinside, but I know I lurked a few years before creating an account. I was on RGP as far back as 1995, the first time I had internet access as a freshman in college.

Pinside used to be a tight-knit group of people with a common interest that could joke around about anything and everything. It seemed nothing short of being illegal was off-limits. So many discussions were hilarious. Even though I didn't post much or at all, I felt like I knew a lot of the pinsiders. Early each day at work I couldn't wait to check out what crazy hijinks happened overnight on here.

At some point, Pinside became more of a monetary venture for Robin, and a lot of the new users. Content that was once allowed and even encouraged was now banned. We had to be policed in order not to offend each other and sensitive new users that could affect the revenue the site generates. The internet and society as a whole became more politically correct and easily offended by things that used to be laughed about or easily ignored if you didn't find them funny. A lot of message boards I frequented have died as they reached critical mass, changed what they were originally about, and died fairly swift deaths when the users found new places that were more like what their favorite sites used to be.

For me, Pinside isn't really enjoyable anymore. Sure I check it a few times a day, mainly to visit 3 or 4 threads I have saved as favorites, but other than that it's more of a habit that something I want to do.

That's very true. It kills me when I keep hearing "that show would never get made today" when people talk about sitcoms from the 90s and 00s like The Office, Seinfeld, and Friends. Love them or hate them, were they really that offensive? What's that leave for future "comedies"?

All In The Family crossed my mind. It was before my time, and I've only seen clips, but I know what you mean. I've specifically heard it said about all 3 of those though. There's some bits of each that wouldn't fly today for sure.