I think this is a great answer, and I agree. I'd also add it just seems like I use the web completely differently now than I did a decade ago. I don't feel the need to save sites or links or anything now. I'm not quite sure why that is. I assume I won't need them again? I assume they're just one of many and if I can't find them again I'll find another?
I just don't feel the need to curate the web now. I'm not sure all the crappy redesigns would matter at this point, I wouldn't be using it now anyways.
I still remember this big change, really drove me crazy at the time:
I was an early del.icio.us user and initially thought it was pretty cool but after a while stopped using it. Google has made most hand indexing of web content irrelevant because you can generally find things again if you vaguely remember where you saw them the first time.
In a way it's analogous to the schema on write vs. schema on read approaches to data analysis. If you don't know the end use of data, schema on read is usually a lot more efficient.
I just don't feel the need to curate the web now. I'm not sure all the crappy redesigns would matter at this point, I wouldn't be using it now anyways.
I still remember this big change, really drove me crazy at the time:
http://www.zdnet.com/article/avos-delicious-disaster-lessons...