2007-2009 marked a shift in society. We have the election of Obama in 2008, the iPhone, financial crash, and arguably most important- the maturity of the internet. 2007 was the worst year for the internet and mobile phones and videos becoming more popular. This opened the floodgates for the lowest common denominator of people being able to access the internet. Other things plagued the internet like the internet becoming indistinguishable from everyday life, becoming a part of life and who we are instead of a hobby. It was also the time where companies got a foothole on the internet and tried to regulate it. 2007 was when the internet turned to shit, especially internet communities.
The early 2000s was the wild west of the internet and life in general. The new century for new life, new beginning, and new dreams. Now, it's feels old and too jaded. Everything feels like a jungle-tron and is infested of drugs, depression, and other sad things. Social media has become a incorporated to the point where you can't say anything without being threaten to be unemployed for what you twitted/ stated on facebook, demonized or even speak freely. Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and other big time social media platforms are the newest forums. Any active forum before that is now a ghost town.
Prior to 2007, the internet really was the Wild West. The golden age for me was 2001-07, high speed internet and the feeling of endless exploration. Facebook was still “cool” This era marked a shift in the way content was produced. The old internet was exciting because it was new and lawless. Lawmakers had no idea what the internet was in 2000. Fear about hackers stealing your money from the banks, phone companies not understanding what a script/virus that called a 900 number from your computer was.Hell congress use the movie "Hackers" as evidence for trying to regulate the internet?
The internet was used to promote anything and everything , it was full of pirated everything, Napster was insane when it came out. Think of what they charged for CDs, games, and such in 2000. You had no option but to buy it or try to copy one of the 2 songs from a cd off the radio. They kept trying to regulate it but no one in power had any idea what was going on or how to even start regulating the internet. It was around 2005-7 that companies realized the money they could make with it. Things like EBay Amazon and Apple music started to take off. When the companies started making money, they told congress how to regulate the internet to insure their profits. Torrent something nowadays without a vpn and there is a good chance your cable company will cut off your service.
I honestly doubt the internet will get better, and it honestly seems like it's getting worse. The censorship crackdown many places online seem to have been taking place, from the shut down of right wing controversial commentators like Alex Jones, to the shut down of 8chan, to even attacking small relatively unnoticed creators like MisterMetokur it seems like the internet is getting worse each year and it seems like in 2020, the internet censorship brigade will go in full swing and the internet becomes TV.2.0. Honestly at this point I think the internet, the world wide web at least is unsalvagavble in terms of communities. Not to mention that any sort of internet movement that was born on the internet and wasn't shilled by any establishment groups, that actually changes something gets shut down by the federal agents. Not to mention china wanting to influence the world and send its message abroad by censoring games and events, eg blizzcon, the nba eccetera.