I've lurked the thread and lurked some of the neocities sites. I'm going to sperg out for a bit. This is probably something most people over the age of 30 or so probably know but whatever.
Just from a glance I can tell which sites are made by people who lived through the "early" internet and which didn't. Earlier pages didn't have such stuff in erratic order and glitter everywhere. Older girly sites could have glitter, but it at least was in some type of order. This hyperpopish thing is recent, and even 2010's Tumblr didn't really have it (except maybe for ironic blogs.) The only website I can remember off hand that had a lot of sensory overload was the icarly website (yes, there was an actual site for the show, which itself is now defunct). And even that was more of a satire of the time.
Personally I don't think everything needs to RETVRN. Some of the creative liberties taken are kinda cool.
But so much of the content is just so boring. It's full of nothing. Pre-tumblr there were no xenogender or ACAB stamps everywhere. Especially if you were mainly focused on Pokemon/video games/whatever. There was no need for microlabels, you could just explore and do whatever.
There's some sort of... sadness, I feel. There are teens who can't simply enjoy things. They are bombarded with political messages from every aspect of their lives. They are either for the Party, or against it. They are basically recruited into the Youth League of the Spies, and it's evident in any brief glance of the drama. I've had these thoughts for a while with mainstream social media, but it's just more obvious here.
I'm actually glad I grew up in an earlier time, because this seems like a huge hell to live through. I'm at least glad there are some sites from the 2000's that are still up.