NEW YORK -- From 1996 to 1999, everyone who was anyone knew that the Internet was the place to be. People quit perfectly good jobs at profitable corporations because, as everyone knew, profitability was Old School and Old School was bad. They went to work at places like Henfruit.com and ReplaceThoseMissingExtraSocks.com, not despite the fact that they never made money but because of that fact. The young and the childless gathered in cafes and bars that served overpriced beverages nobody liked in order to compare stock options and body alterations.
"I'm worth $2.7 million on paper," someone would say, and people would believe him.
"Of course," someone would continue, "I'm holding. I'd hate to sell now and lose money when the market goes up. Besides, I love my company. We have a foosball table and a dog in the office, and we all work 23 hours a day because we believe that the Web is The Future." And people would believe him.