The old internet didn't have to die, it took a tremendous amount of concentrated effort from terrible people to destroy it. They took this vast network that was an open forum, with a huge variety of sites and subcultures, and just fucking crushed it down into a singular blob of corporate, advertiser-friendly network, with only a few places carrying on the spirit of the old wild west internet.

people like nostr:npub108zt8c43ulvdwnax2txurhhr07wdprl0msf608udz9rvpd5l68ascvdkr5 and nostr:npub108pv4cg5ag52nq082kd5leu9ffrn2gdg6g4xdwatn73y36uzplmq9uyev6 (and others) putting in many hours of underappreciated work are the only reason we have this. never take it for granted.