I think Ev Williams said it best: "the Internet used to be about the Internet. Now it's about everything."

What he meant, I believe, was that the Internet itself used to be a niche thing. Something reserved to techies and kids and maybe people who needed Internet for their jobs. I think a lot of nostalgia is driven simply by that sense of early community.

Today, the internet is literally about everything and everyone. It's international, cross-cultural, cross-everything. Of course there are going to be tensions and disputes. It's not necessarily hate speech. It's just.. people. Figuring things out. It's not always pleasant.

I agree with a lot of what you've said, but it's nowhere near as one-sided.