Oh, I'm definitely projecting. I'm not sure where the line is between romanticizing and glorifying, but no one should do either. A "fun and wild time" is purely a matter of perspective (and self-persuasion). It's an unwholesome post-mortem. Whether we can say the web legitimately sucks more now, or it just seems that way, someone deeply invested in building things who started around that time might describe the current eradication of free content and hopelessness associated with stifling of creative output as a type of midlife crisis. Or they might long for the simpler days. That too is only about perspective. Mine might be dark and his might be light but I wouldn't have responded to this at all if I hadn't been through the same wringer.