Against an Increasingly User-Hostile Web
One factor that might be at play: the user base of the web has probably dumbed down considerably over time. In 1999 you had to have some technical chops to get your modem, PPP settings, ISP phone number etc. all sorted out, and know some arcane URLs to type into the browser to get started with (back when browsers didn&#x27;t auto-complete the <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;</a> for you). So it probably attracted more intelligent people on average, with nerdy&#x2F;intellectual interests.<p>Better browsers, broadband, tech usability improvements, smartphones, easy-to-use websites like Facebook, etc. lowered the barrier considerably. So maybe a lot of this is the influx of &quot;dumb&quot; people who can&#x27;t be bothered to learn HTML to put up a page, or understand the privacy implications of the 450 surreptitious HTTP requests streaming along as they read their news article. (&quot;dumb&quot; is a little facetious here -  in other words just ordinary people not as tech savvy or focused on intellectual pursuits as the web&#x27;s early adopters).