2005 - 2006, you would come home from your exhausting job, get out of the embarrassing work uniform into your comfy clothes, connect to the internet with your slow dial-up connection while hoping no one tries to make a phone call before, or with your slow DSL connection. You would check your Myspace account, potentially add a new person to your Top 8.
Myspace 1.0 - Myspace functioned like a closed-off cluster. You had to "friend" someone in order to see their updates, such as 'bulletins.' As far as alt-culture, you could find your niche by way of Myspace Groups, or by proximity to the scene queens.
For Scene/Emo, there was Jeffree Star, Kiki Kannibal.
For Goths, there was Razorcandi, Morticia Eve, or whoever was the most photogenic Sopor Aeternus/Victorian inspired aesthetic model with their photo taken at Agra Halle at WGT.
Vampirefreaks - A social media site made by and for alt people. Groups were called "Cults." Like Myspace, you could edit your page with HTML. Cybergoth was a huge thing. I distinctly remember this Cybergoth I was mutuals with, edited her page to where her profile looked like a neon green hacked computer screen. I had (still do..ahem.. ) a crush on Amelia Arsenic aka DestroyX from Angelspit.
Attitude/social climate then vs now:
Alt people used these platforms for different reasons than now.
When you followed or friended someone, their feed was a mix of posting their photos, flirting with other people they found hot, embedding a song that they liked, showing off what cds they found, writing blog entries, writing bad poetry, showing off a DIY project, or posting thirst traps. It was all about aesthetic maximalism.
In contrast to now, friending an alt person (except for maybe Instragram), their feed will be full of Trump's ugly face, some blown out building in Gaza, callout/cancel posts, purity spiraling, negativity/"No fun allowed" vibes.
Alt people were political. They hated George Bush and his Christian Nationalist administration. But any allusion to opposing him was done in a very artsy/edgy way i/g making jokes about churches in Norway circa 1990s, inverted crosses, calling him Dumbo the Elephant because of his ears. And their entire page wasn't plastered with political posts.
Cancel culture wasn't really a thing. When someone was abusive in alt spaces, they were simply ejected or the police were involved. It wasn't a big attention-farming thing. Words like 'cultural appropriation" wasn't in the cultural lexicon during this era. Unless somebody did something actually racist i/g like wearing blackface makeup, no one gave a shit if a cybergoth had dreads, or if Goths wore Bhindis or tribal aesthetic.
Politics weren't about bullying people into the most maximalist positions like they are now in online alt spaces. It was simple social-liberalism, about sexual liberation, and rebellion through art/expression. But maybe 2% politics, and 98% creativity/music/flirting & thirst traps/photoshoots.
2014 was the year when high-speed internet really kicked off, smartphones started to become a thing, and Tumblr was in its hey-day. Algorithms started to be implemented. Tumblr blogs became a barrage of political soapboxing, callouts, uninvited discourse, purity scolding. That behavior attached itself to online alt culture like a tumor, and it still hasn't been cauterized. Everyone is up in everyone else's business.
The only way I keep sane, is blocking discourse heavy people. I like my orbit to be full of people that care about music, art, non-puritans, etc. If a person constantly prattles on about geo-politics, political extremism (of any stripe), callout culture, that's an immediate block. It's possbile to have a early 00's feed, where it's full of pretty people and music and not some balding politician's face, but it takes extra curating and effort to get it there.