The early hackers were in it for love of computers and what one could do with them. You had to be a real nerd, in the derogatory sense, to want to dig deep into computers and it took considerable skill to get the primitive hardware (by modern standards) to do what you wanted, which acted as a natural filter. They were explorers, free spirits, many of them deeply anti-authoritarian.

Once it became clear that literally everybody needed a website and consequently fat paychecks were easily had, the gold rush started and those motivated primarily by money started flooding in. The old hacker ethos was gone, replaced with a new one "Greed is good"[0]. The old appreciation for elegant design and clever hacks was replaced with a mentality of slapping things together for the customer with the least effort possible so that one could go on to the next.

That's what happened.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HraaYH-sJBI