Usenet forums, and this application I had that tracked my request along the path it took - it was a map of the big pipes of the internet, the highways; I would search or send an email or whatever then could open this program to see the literal path it took to the destination computer. If I was on the college proxy server it would use different 'roads' than if I was on the account I had through the phone company. It was fascinating.
I don't miss everything being difficult to accomplish.