The problem is culture changed. How far people were willing to push it 10xed, then 100xed. I've been on free speech forums like Voat, then Ruqqus. But people are just too nasty to behave, and then not enough "normies" come to drown them out. You're left with a hate fueled, self censoring circlejerk.
(Same applies to allowing full shitpost ability on larger sites, just in smaller corners)
In the "wild west" days there was a certain "terrorists handbook" circulating with detailed instructions on how to make all sorts of things.
I'm very happy that sort of thing isn't easily available to everyone anymore.
Trolling then and "trolling" now are just not the same. The meaning behind the word has evolved to mean something malicious. Trolling back then meant more like a practical joke. Like telling a noob alt+f4 will give them buffs in a game.
But you're trying to compare a time where the internet had few million of users rather than a few billion ones.
Oh, and people got banned ALL THE TIME before too. I don't know if you remember mud's or IIRC. But I do. Banning annoying people was very common. Certainly ain't nothing new. Behave or gtfo.
I remember when I first ran into this. It was on a BBS. It felt like forbidden knowledge. It felt like this was a big secret.
But now that I'm not an edgy teenager anymore, I realize it's just a library book. The trouble with getting older, is you learn how to organize the world so it feels smaller
I can't exactly say I've seen it in my local library. I remember this being circulated and just really hoped that the idiots in my class wouldn't blow their hands off.