Were you collecting online in the late 90s? Nostalgia!

[BabyExplorer]

I didn't have the internet until the late 90's and didn't join the online community until 1998, I believe... but I remember much of what has been mentioned. I never was very chatty on the boards, so people may not remember me so well. I used to go by Aerosmith_Gal.

I remember you, Aerosmith_Gal! Were you on LNS's forum maybe?  After the Dream Valley chat shut down, I migrated to HQTs forum, and after that to LNS.  I remember you from at least one of those places. I've been BabyExplorer a long tine, but also used to go by HeartThrob or BabyTiddleyWinks in the DV chat.

I am definitely a fast typer today because of Dram Valley chatroom! I spent hours there. In the day, it was all role play, and all the actions were notated between stars (ex *waves hi to everyone*). You knew you had made a friend if you were asked to be her "sister." I kept a notebook with the names and I addresses of everyone so that I would know if someone was being impersonnated. I imagine that notebook is still at my parents house somewhere. :-P

I was pretty young when I first got into ponies online, 5th grade maybe? I must have only been 10 or 11 when I bought my first pony online.

And I remember Spoosh's contests! I was so envious of the people who got to participate. I think I was the "voice" of one of the Top 50 ponies (don't remember which one... Sugarberry maybe?) But she didn't make it very far in the competition. And the Survivor Pony game he ran - I wanted desperately to play in that, so I just posted like a maniac in the Fans section. The Lost At Sea version was th e best one.

It's fun to remember now and then. I mostly lurk these days, but couldn't help popping my head in here.

[LadyMoondancer]

Ebay was hilarious, you could see everything and email the winners, and anyone could leave feedback.

Oh man that reminds me... My sister was sniped on a pony auction and was so mad she sent the winner a "how dare you!" message to which she replied "you should have set your max bid higher" Ah, ebay had no privacy back then

Yes!  Yes!!  And you could also search by bidder!  I used to search the Delaneys account (I think it was thedelaneys) to see the latest amazing pony they were bidding on.

[Ember1]

I remember i bought a baby peachy pony on ebay who everyone on the tp dubbed a fakie.
I insisted she looked real and wouldnt let go of the idea. Her hooves werent marked either which
didnt help. She turned out to be the first greek baby ever "discovered" on the boards.

[LittleSpiffy]

Ebay was hilarious, you could see everything and email the winners, and anyone could leave feedback.

Oh man that reminds me... My sister was sniped on a pony auction and was so mad she sent the winner a "how dare you!" message to which she replied "you should have set your max bid higher" Ah, ebay had no privacy back then

Yes!  Yes!!  And you could also search by bidder!  I used to search the Delaneys account (I think it was thedelaneys) to see the latest amazing pony they were bidding on.

HAHA, I used to stalk everyone on eBay that way...er, for curiosity purposes only

[lovesbabysquirmy]

If there is a copy of the My Little Pony Name Registry around somewhere, you'll find me on it.  No surprise, I'm lovesbabysquirmy there too. 

Hehehe  ahhhh memoriiiiiiiiiiiiiiies...  going to the library for the internet, hanging out on Yahoo Groups and Auctions, backpack full of ponies, hand-written notebook checklist in my bag...

[hathorcat]

I was not active in the community in the late 90's but here is my story.

In mid to late 1998, I was 18 and just graduated high school that spring.  It would be years before I had regular access to the internet at home.  However, my mom had it at work.  During her lunch hour or on the weekends, she would let me come up to her work and use the internet.  That was when I first discovered that there were people out there collecting MLP.  I had adored MLP when I was younger but put them away during my pre-teens.  I still had all of my old collection, though (about 30 between myself and my sister.)  Finding out that there were people out there collecting and buying and selling  inspired me to pull out my own collection.  That's how I started collecting as an adult.

Since my access to the internet was limited and I didn't have much money being a new college student, I never bought or sold online at that time.  However, I was reasonably successful finding ponies at garage sales.

I am also one of those people who printed off Dream Valley so that I could put it in a binder and use it at home.  I still even have it.  I would color in the pony pictures and mark off the ones I had.

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Oh my gosh this binder is awesome! How amazing you still have it. I remember driving parents nuts by printing loads off on an old printer but never kept them as nice and pretty.

[Archer]

This is like the best idea for a thread ever lol I remember so much from here. I remember having to go to the travel agents one time to get some money changed into foreign currency just so i could send it abroad to get some ponies lol. And when cheques were used to pay for ponies and the waiting it'd take for the seller to make sure it didn't bounce.

I also remember the campaigns online regarding the G2's where people would have little badges on their sites denoting whether it was a G2 friendly site or not

And adoptables in the early 2000's. I LOVED pony art back then and used to spend ages looking for pictures people had drawn of my childhood ponies lol. I used to visit the Misty Mountain Nursery, Firefries website, Emerald Valley and Lullaby Nursey (getting all nostalgic lol) I adored the artwork on Misty mountain nursery and Firefries (hope i've spelt that right) art. I used to spend so long admiring them lol.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

P.S. Marco later went on to be hired by the company in charge of the reboot of Sailor Moon in Italy in the 2000's . 

[Itcheeee]

Do you remember when. . .

. . . you bought from another collector the safest way was to send them a money order?
Money orders, wow that brings me back xD MO's were daily for me for the longest while
. . . some of the most sought-after and expensive ponies were Lil' Tot, Hollywood, non-BBE UK and German babies, Mimic (some things never change, lol!), and flutters with wings?
I always thought baby ponies were just rare, lots of others had the same idea

. . . most later-year ponies very popular today were virtually ignored? (like Sweetheart Sisters, Secret Surprise ponies, perfume puff ponies, mermaid babies)
No-one wanted a perfume pony, most likely because they still had an...odor >o<
. . . ponies seemed so much cheaper????
G1's at yard sales, everywhere O_O
. . . Dream Valley was the go-to website for pony identification? And it had pony backcards instead of photographs to help you identify ponies? (Dream Valley will always have a special place for me because it was so instrumental in helping me ID my ponies.)
DV was one of the first 'fansites' I found, ever. An entire catalog of G1 ponies growing up in a G2 world, I perfered the original
. . . you bid on an auction, you had to keep refreshing your browser to make sure you weren't outbid? (don't miss that any)
Reason one I lost many items that have become so rare today ;w;
. . . Ebay auctions were not required to have a photo, and it usually wasn't shown in the main listing?
Pictures were my requirement haha
. . . most Nirvana ponies were unknown? (I still feel like a time traveler coming to another century as I learn about all the pony variations from other countries)
The modern internet pretty much made Nirvana's uknown at all
. . . it wasn't ridiculously rare to find a pony in a thrift store? (G1, of course!)
I found lots of G2's but I wasn't fond of them once I discovered the sweet-faced G1's existance
. . . Moondancer's Dream was around? Lady Moondancer's website had a huge impact on me, if only because of her awesome fanfiction.
Was never into FF.
. . . and who else remembers High Queen Tiffany? I'll be quite interested if anyone does. She ran a website called the Ice Palace (I think?) and resigned because of all the flamers and hecklers.
Nope.

[Rosette]

I remember when eBay started and the entire toy section, every toy listed for auction, could be scrolled through in a couple minutes.

There was one eBay seller then who always included a free, surprise MIB pretty ups package with each MOC pony Id win.

I was part of an AOL collecting community and we'd use a text file of pony colors and symbols to ID ponies before Dream Valley have us photos. We bought from each other, sight unseen, and with cash in envelopes.

Baby Applejack was selling for hundreds of dollars.

I would find ponies for a quarter each at garage sales, mixed in with small McDonald's toys.