alt Hacker NewsBack then people online weren't really sexist or racist. They were really nice and helpful people. No extreme right. The internet was a really friendly place.
Although back then it was also kinda taboo so they were usually banned everywhere (not just online). Which was great IMO.
Not very much later of course came the masses and the emergence of awful platforms.
I don't know how far "back then" is but I got on the internet in the 90s and people on freenode and other IRC networks making racist/sexist comments was definitely not a rarity.
Edit: or actually, whatever predated freenode (OPN?) because I forgot freenode was a 2000s change.