Things made for profit tend to rot, and become increasingly hostile to actual humans over time. Things made for fun do not have this tendency. Initially, most c

Things made for profit tend to rot, and become increasingly hostile to actual humans over time. Things made for fun do not have this tendency. Initially, most content on the web was made for fun. Over time, this has shifted almost entirely to content made for profit, and the current web is dramatically hostile to any actual human user. The discussion threads, here and a few other places, have no profit motive, so they're untouched by the plague. To your point: the web used to be a great place to get very clear, concise stuff that cut through the crap. Some of that's still out there, but now most places pad their shit out for SEO and who knows what other tricks.