alt Hacker NewsSites back then had benevolent dictators that curated an experience for fans. I think in many ways it worked better than the democratized communities we have today.
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roywiggins • last Tuesday at 9:25 PM
All fun and games until the one person running the site crashes out and rage quits, taking the site down with it.
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It wasn’t so much “benevolent dictator” as it was “you’re in my house, so quit being a dick”. Toxic fans certainly existed but this approach usually led to them splintering off to create their own thing that’d inevitably wither away.
(You can perhaps substitute “wasn’t so much” for some form of “in addition to”)