Here's a thought...

[Rattrap96]

Imagine if the Internet was born at the beginning of 1980 & there were forums (message boards) discussing TV programs of 80's like the original Transformers cartoon or even Growing Pains. Do you think that there would be the same discussions that are what they are now (like trolls / flame wars & even hating on these TV shows)?

[packerbacker180]

Nobody would be talking about Transformers because everyone knows GoBots were the best!

[Idiot Savant]

Great concept...I have to believe that those shows would have their rabid fans going at it just like today. "Man, did you see Starscream call out Megatron like that? He should bitch-slap that bastard"!

[Ken Davis]

Absolutely. There'd be the exact same fan cultures as there are now, and the same fan "problems". The communication isn't the medium, so regardless of when the medium came about what would be communicated using it is probably going to be a constant. A lot of fan culture now has come about because of the ease of communication with the internet.

If you look back at fan culture via conventions and fan-press in the 80's and 70's, there's a lot of trends that have been around far longer than the Internet. Cosplay, for example goes back many years before the 'Net, and fan squabbles were common at cons and in fanzines and such. The only difference is that the immediacy wasn't there, as it is now. If anything, the immediacy now has exacerbated things.

[Doctor Fate]

To me, it would make no difference what was the topic is ... but a hot topic to discuss back then and having said that I feel that the message boards back then would be no different from the message boards of today. But, we would be talking about a whole new slew of topic that's relevance in the 80's.

Even the internet were existed in the 70''s ... I see that my thread the Lynda Carter thread would be a VERY HOT SUBJECT MATTER back then and still a hot subject matter today because she was the only one can play the part beautifully. I totally agree with all of you here and this is an very interesting subject matter because I know in my heart that the 70's, 80's and beyond ... Message Boards would be alive and kicking with great interests and they are here to stay!

Another hot topic(s) would be Van Williams's Green Hornet and Adam West's Batman ... Not to mention Lindsay Wagner and Lee Majors of their own shows ... The Bionic Woman and the Six Million Dollar Man. List goes on and on and on.