Nickelodeon’s The-N.com created a blueprint for fandom, in the early 2000s

polygon.com:

Finding a community online is easier than ever. Social media platforms have simplified the routes of connection, as young people bond through Discord servers and niche TikTok trends. Back in the 2000s, however, the internet was just starting to connect people through message boards, webcomics, and gaming sites. And for over four million teens discovering who they were during the early aughts, a short-lived Nickelodeon TV channel and its website — where users chatted, posted on forums, and played games with each other — became a refuge.

In 1999, Viacom and Sesame Workshop teamed up to launch Noggin, an educational television network focused on kids from the ages of 2-14 years old. The station took off, turning a profit and reaching 43 million households in two short years. However, its success was hampered by a fundamental issue: Kids go to sleep early, leaving their nighttime block under-watched.

Struggling to sustain their older audience, Viacom split Noggin’s schedule to appeal to their tween-aged crowd. On April 1, 2002 at 6:00 p.m ET, the Noggin logo faded out on screen for the first time and a hand appeared in its place, welcoming viewers to a brand new programming block: The N. The new block felt like Noggin’s cooler older sibling, and from that day forward, the same channel would air Dora The Explorer during the day and Degrassi: The Next Generation after dark. Storylines on The N showed teens navigating real-life scenarios, such as pregnancy and substance abuse. Viewers saw themselves in programs like South of Nowhere, a groundbreaking friends-to-lovers series starring two queer young women.

“We aimed to find a tool that helped adolescents imagine their future selves,” said Tom Ascheim, President of Warner Bros.