Gregory's Server+1 to this. I feel like 2000-ish was the best of the Web. It certainly had lots of problems (very similar ones to current Mastodon....) but the balance between being able to find things with a search, stumble across things or go down hyperlink ratholes balanced the best against ads/spyware/assorted nastiness.
Stumbleupon, del.icio.us, google in their don't-be-evil days were pretty spectacular.
@thatsten @oluOnline yeah as long as you knew not to install Banzai Buddy you were largely OK 😆