> There was very little monetization The problem isn’t even necessarily monetization but the hypermonitization that took over the web almost immediately. We

> There was very little monetization The problem isn’t even necessarily monetization but the hypermonitization that took over the web almost immediately. We never had much of a mom & pop era, we accelerated immediately from volunteer enthusiasts into megacorporations. Part of this, ironically, is people getting used to the Internet being free. Paying for content, even small amounts, was blasphemous. But something has to keep the lights on and the proles paid and two decades later, that something was advertising and venture capital. It was a devils bargain. Now everyone is chasing clicks and VC money and AI is the new accelerator for both.