[1] - https://neocities.org/
...and no, it all wasn't able to be saved - but a massive amount was managed to be preserved (it used to be available as a torrent - assuming it is still being seeded, you might be able to download a copy if you really want it - but it ain't small).
Essentially with mass adoption it got increasingly lowest common denominator.
Still sad that the two couldn't live side by side, a standard experience with a customization one.
I get why it wouldn't just if you were making a product now with two different experiences and one would take a lot more maintenance.
Still.... everyone's facebook or twitter account or whatever looks the same. Feels to me like we lost a lot of personality.
I think there just isn't much of a desire among most people to be "creative" with their layouts. Most people use social media like an appliance, they care about the networking and communication and are satisfied as long as that works.
It is though a good example of "fun and weird" and a little sad it was left out as social media grew. I get why, but still feels like that character missing is a loss of some kind.
If you're talking about security issues, I get that, valid concern. I've got no good answer for it.
I do think there is a loss, that there isn't that personality.
I used to use Geocities and yeah the internet and HTML were sort of synonymous. As users my friends and I all had pages we'd do things on and show each other.
I suspect the issue is that long term that doesn't bring in users who DO NOT want to do that and thus your user base is limited, and once you make a place that does appeal to the folks who don't want to dip their toes in code.... you just stick everyone there.