Early adopters were actually quite welcoming. It's just that the usenet communities had informal social norms that took time to acclimate to. When newcomers com

Early adopters were actually quite welcoming. It's just that the usenet communities had informal social norms that took time to acclimate to. When newcomers come in large numbers all at once then they overwhelm the acclimatization process to the informal norms and it becomes a free-for-all. It used to be considered good netiquette to not barge into a chat and start talking and peppering people with questions immediately before you get to know who is who. But the modern internet is more focused on making you engage with it at all times so the idea of "lurking" as a virtuous thing is basically gone. Platforms make a point of trying to coax and goad you out of lurker mode so you can inflict your bad takes on everyone else, so that you can prompt more bad takes from me and others in a feedback loop.