You don't find them easely. That is the point I guess. But I am not reffering to some obscure darkweb here.

Many of e.g. the old niche forums still exist. Like, FOSS sites. GNU project sites seemed not to have aged a day in 20 years, i.e. still party like its 2004.

Also, I think non English sites are better off since Reddit mainly ate English communities and sites.

Facebook is probably what killed most of the living internet. Small community sites. Like the local Kennel club or Boat marina.

A good example of the old internet would be Matthew's Volvo site:

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums/search.php?search_i...

You're on it right now. HN is a very old site with old users and old mods that links to other old sites

Something Awful is a good example. Other forums behind paywalls or ones that are invite only.

Even non-paywalled forums are pretty good compared to the "open" internet.