Long time lurker, first time contributor.
In the late 90s I was in my early 30s, newly divorced, living in a small town with an almost non existent population of single women. My ex was awarded our friends in the divorce and I felt bored and trapped and had little to do beyond driving my kids everywhere they needed to go on the days they were with me and when I wasn't working.
I was a temporary IT guy and spent a lot of time in front of a screen both at work and home. In my need to connect with anyone I discovered chatrooms, messenger, ICQ, online backgammon and long list of other places where lonely people went online. I lurked in chatrooms and did things that you do when you are anonymous, bored, discovering for the first time what other people thought about sexually and able to type 60 wpm with your left hand. At night I could be found typing away trying to keep track of multiple messenger conversations, a backgammon game or two and illegally downloading pictures, videos and stories of an adult nature. I trolled for (a fishing reference not the creature under the bridge) what I certainly hoped were women in chatrooms with titles that told you what the kink du jour was.