Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the most salient point. The lost feature of the 90s web is the content , not the GeoCities aesthetic. Web pages were quirky not because of gifs but because someone lovingly collected a bunch of Dragonball Z images or wrote summaries of X-Files episodes and put those up for others to enjoy. Some people put up recipes or stories or whatever. Most amateur homepages weren't a monetized side hustle, just content a…
I truly don't understand this argument. First of all, people post extremely niche and personal content on their social media feeds. Heck, my own Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram feeds are mostly comprised of stuff on the same level of quirky ingenuity of the early web. So if your issue is with the presence of this type of "content", then I really don't see it. Secondly you might argue, like many others, that the true pr…
In the old internet you could be reasonably certain that people where sharing because they wanted to share. There was no ulterior motive of profit, growing a large following, etc. It felt more genuine. Today, most people who actively post seem to be trying to build a following to become an "influencer".
It could be that this is a product of lack of discoverability of differently motivated content, but that lack of discoverability is still directly caused by what the modern internet is (its incentives and what is promoted by the giants in the space: engagement).
Gemini[1] and other small nets seem to capture some of that old share-with-no-ulterior-motive vibe, but we will see how long it lasts.