Yeah, I actually like the oldest of the three best. The one with 7 css declarations was annoying to me somehow and the third option was garbage. I miss websites that were about conveying information.

It's a social dynamic thing. Whenever there's too many people it becomes a mess with scams, business, fads, over-engineering, regulations...

Mailing lists are still good for that I guess.

The default Emacs theme is not great, but the current best practice is to stop messing with themes and just use modus (vivendi or operandi depending on your light/dark preference), especially since they are now included as part of Emacs.

what's missing from vanilla ? honest question

There's nothing missing per se, but the contrast is not always good, and the highlight face is distracting.

> current best practice is to stop messing with themes and just use modus

Bold statement. Those look mostly terrible to me.