The centralization of google as a gateway to most internet content has nearly destroyed the penchant for individuals and groups to self organize online. Webrings are an example of group organization. Individuals used to make their own link pages or "home pages" with sections and categories.

You needed to discern and track which sites were full of useful content and which sites had veins of good links to other useful content. You were responsible for your own PageRank, instead of letting that muscle go flaccid and allowing a corporate entity maintain that in a locked black box beholden to who knows what.