It's such a fascinating thing, how many people were part of that wave and yet collectively don't acknowledge it publicly any more.
It's one of the first times I've seen people en masse avoid mentioning a shared thing from the past, not unlike the stereotypical "playing with dolls" of being very young.
(Mandatory reference to people huddling around metaphorical campfires as various livestreaming services had people who had managed to load that 80MB monstrosity before it went down sharing it, and people sometimes streaming those streams as the per-stream viewer caps got hit, and various free filesharing sites went down as AH uploaded it there...)
Not even recommending it, just acknowledging that you were ever acquainted with it.
A good number of the people I met in that community who still keep in contact with one another avoid the question when asked how they met, by someone who isn't from that set.
I suspect, indeed, that the reputation backlash as it hit critical mass is why people don't want to be associated with it any more.
(I've not; I ended up too busy to keep following it around when the largest of the pauses transpired, and haven't gone back to finish it or the added epilogue yet.)
e: drat, this comment makes less sense with your edit.
It's one of the first times I've seen people en masse avoid mentioning a shared thing from the past, not unlike the stereotypical "playing with dolls" of being very young.
(Mandatory reference to people huddling around metaphorical campfires as various livestreaming services had people who had managed to load that 80MB monstrosity before it went down sharing it, and people sometimes streaming those streams as the per-stream viewer caps got hit, and various free filesharing sites went down as AH uploaded it there...)