When all of the web traffic gradually moves into for-profit walled gardens, this happens. Those places will seek to increase profits. They can do it by growing

When all of the web traffic gradually moves into for-profit walled gardens, this happens. Those places will seek to increase profits. They can do it by growing their members but that eventually stops working. They need to make the "content" stickier, more addictive. Cute kitty pics are attractive but not as attractive as porn, but porn has a legally limited audience. Pleasing people brings recurring business, but angering them, angering them with "righteous outrage," that brings them back even more frequently - the A/B tests confirm it. Some people here will blame capitalism, some will blame oligopoly, some will blame lack of regulation, and some will blame other people's meanness. Those are all factors. And then some. This isn't the land of Angelfire and everyone's personal weblog anymore.