The overarching issue with the modern internet is how "serious" it's become. It used to be a wasteland for the tech savvy. It didn't have to be grand or important. It turned a hang out at high school lunch into a white tablecloth business meeting because "someone might see this later that won't hire you." And of course the fact that most people spend the whole time on one single website (Facebook) means that independent communities are dead, and all communities worth a damn now (because of, you know, people actually using them) are sterilized and controlled by a handful of Tech Lords.

I ran a website and accompanying forum from early highschool to well into college, about 8 years or so. It was mostly a large circle of friends but it organically attracted randoms from all walks of life. Once Reddit and Facebook took over, that was that - no one used it anymore, and certainly no one stumbled upon it.

It's not just growing up that changed the thinking on this (ie. "the good old days"), because I think the internet was still awesome in 2012, and I was well into my 20s at that time. That was only 8 years ago - it's not nostalgia speaking here.