The tape thing reminds me a lot of the oldschool anime fansub trading (though there was the added layer of fansub groups in source acquisition + translation + adding the subtitles). I remember sending out blank VHS tapes (only certain brands accepted) to distros I'd find on the web, and later many people accepted cost-covering (or more, enter wank) money. Memories!

I feel a little jealous of the ML days. I was mainly a lurker on MLs and in archives for years, and only really started talking to people more when LJ became popular.