I'm not that old, but..
Match Maker was brand new, maybe a day or two old, so the salt was real.
Tover Twatch was a competitive team.
Pyramidion was the only choice of ship.
Flamer was something to be feared by every ship and ship build so long as the ship didn't have great chem cycles.
People knew what a chem cycle was! (Mention chem cycle now and people get confused!)
Hwacha was just the Lion Gun.. Now it's the LION GUN FUCK YEAH!
People who piloted Squids were either bat shit crazy or incredibly good pilots.
SPQR had two teams that competed almost every event!
Cakes were incredibly active.
Gents were well known and active.
LeonXross 4v4 with 4 mobula all Hades, sitting ontop of each other to make a highly visible, very deadly tower.
Richard LeMoon harpoon moonshine galleon.
Any weapon combination on a pyramidion was somewhat effective.
Blenderfish were in a good state and often picked over hwacha fish.
Light carronade component sniping.