Not everyone but plenty were doing it for the money. Using ads on their blogs/sites/forums (heck even Stackoverflow ran on ads only for a long time until they brought in more sources of revenue). But with proliferation of ad blockers, they stopped producing textual content and shifted focus to videos. Now ad blockers have gotten smarter and block ads on video too. So it won't be long until even this format disappears as well. We need to find ways to help creators monetize their knowledge rather than stifling their sources of income to such an extent that they have no other means to earn from it. We did it to books too (piracy). Only music seems to not be affected that much due to streaming rights (though music industry went through a similar phase during Napster Era).

> Please bring on the death of micro-monetization.

What is the alternative?

Uh, pardon? This was and continues to be a very well-monetized industry for the major players, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilton_Company