I realize your probably leaning towards "naive web", but I think it might actually be reddit you miss, or at least the club that you identified as reddit. I say this because I felt the same 10 years before that about watching the decline of usenet. Or irc. Or metafilter. Or niche sites that I can't even recall the names of. It's not just "kids these days" ruining a more innocent time, but the feeling of being in a community with a shared ethos that's eroding as the community's values change.