Yes. And there was also an impact that instead of an influx of new people on a regular cadence it was never ending. People were used to a brief disruption of ne

Yes. And there was also an impact that instead of an influx of new people on a regular cadence it was never ending. People were used to a brief disruption of netiquette standards and then things would go back to normal. But once the gates opened it was a never ending, yet increasing, set of new people arriving every day. It didn't take long for the new folks to outnumber the old hands. To your creator:consumer point, that is also true. And I also think part of it was that the existing crowd couldn't comprehend that this was the case. People on Usenet at the time tended toward certain personality types. It was a bit of a shock when the average poster started to have wildly different goals and expectations.