Fidonet was really big in Russia when the internet was too expensive for many people, and some made it tongue in cheek matter of principle that Fidonet is anyway superior. I remember (in the late 90ies/early aughts) standing around with a bunch of people near a subway station before an in-person gathering (of Fidonet users), everybody discussing computer stuff. An older passerby asked us "Hey guys, so are you like, supporters of the Internet?" (sounded just as weird in Russian too), and after a pause someone responded "No! We oppose the Internet! The only use of the Internet is to download drivers!"

Interestingly googling my numbers now and some echo "forums" I was part of I cannot find much... if the Russian segment was archived it's sure not indexed very well.