I didn't realize it was more than 50% ads, more than most websites we consider terrible nowadays.

I think one reason is that back then, it was the way of keeping in touch with the commercial offering. Now, there are millions of review websites and user groups for that. A quick search can least you to the most niche products easily. As a result, ads just try to sell you stuff you are already aware of, instead of informing you about a new product and its capabilities, making them a lot less interesting.

And even ads about shady products were kind of interesting.