Comment by torginus

The fundamental problem of the internet was that it was full of nerds - from a monetization perspective, they are a loathsome bunch.

They barely buy anything, preferring to make their own stuff, and they incessantly complain about the things they do buy.

They resist and effectively fight back against all attempts to control them.

They hate pandering, they don't click on ads (and in fact block them), they smell scams a million miles away.