I think the point here is that websites where you come for information should give you just that - information, and not to get in your way. Let me dissect the problem into parts: * Bloat - not only HTML, but also CSS, JS, a ton o plugins, social media buttons etc. This all slows things down and often obscures the content - that is the very reason you came to visit the site. * Poor UI decisions - with plain ol' HTML a link is a link, an image is an image - when you try to change an HTML document into an app you have to mix different roles. * User-hostile decisions - popups and similar, lack of permanent links, etc. In vanilla HTML you didn't have these.

This has nothing to do with "back in the old days". The web in the 90s was very often horrible, and Flash made it worse (although it's a pity Google and Apple killed it - Adobe could well have opened it when they had a chance and we could all enjoy an independent open platform - but that's a topic for another discussion.)