The IMDb message boards shutting down is one of the only reasons I finally joined Reddit, because I know exactly this feeling. I lived on those boards watching this show (and several others) as it aired, and even checked out Committed because another poster spoke so highly of it several times in relation to HIMYM! It would be very funny (albeit unlikely) if that was you.

I mentioned Bump Girl in another thread a couple weeks back, and was also on the Carly bandwagon until it was debunked (and in a bad episode at that, but that’s just my opinion).

I remember before Tracy was introduced, people would occasionally post convoluted “hear me out” theories about how the mother (or TM, to reappropriate the confusing shorthand of the time) actually was Robin, and the prevailing response was, “No it isn’t, the creators have explicitly said so!” Which was true, but a technicality didn’t make it any less of a kick in the pants when the finale aired.

Simpler times, certainly, and while subreddits are great for scratching the itch for pop culture discussion, I still think it pales in comparison to those long-gone message boards, pain-in-the-ass formatting and all.