I’ve been building and running online communities since before most people even knew the web — heck, the Internet — existed.
The idea that “anything goes free speech absolutism” spaces have been the norm online is ignorance and/or revisionism.
There has always been an appetite for anarchy-lite playgrounds, places where people could jackass around or say the unsayable.
…But the demand for controlled spaces, whether they’re topical or behavioral or whatever, has always been just as strong, if not stronger.
What is new/interesting in this “internet generation” is the degree to which these different kinds of spaces are colliding and overlapping.
In some cases that’s due to increased visibility of *chan style spaces, in others it’s due to behavior from those spaces bleeding over.
So when I see someone dismiss harassers & toxic communities with “Oh, the net is just LIKE this!” all I hear is which spaces they preferred.