> People merely like to remember the past far better than it really was, it happens automatically as time passes and we become emotionally connected to the past in a different way.

There's something to what you're saying, but where are the modern equivalents to DMOZ.org where all those "quirky" sites would be listed in a transparent and easy to browse way? The topic-specific "awesome" lists that people sometimes point to are a piss-poor substitute for what DMOZ made available. Sometimes the present really is worse than the past.