I'll preface this by saying that I don't usually play 'visual novel' games, in fact this is probably my first. But I had a lot of fun with it!
I think you managed a surprisingly authentic simulation of an old-school browsing experience. I especially loved the alternate-universe game/console references on the gaming forum! The UI and sound effects turned out great and I was impressed by the amount of small details you managed to incorporate. You also managed to build up a very unique and unsettling atmosphere and I was quite surprised by some unexpected things that ended up happening. Very cool!
One question though, was the 'homescape' web search supposed to be functional? I kept looking for special keywords that would show results, but the 'GO' button never seemed to have any effect (maybe I just didn't manage to find the right ones though).