Originally Posted by DonovanTrent

It wasn't killed by brilliant business minds. It was killed by a second generation made up of two subgroups with different mindsets that, unfortunately, meshed well together:

• Subgroup 1 thinks da intarwebs and everything on it should be free because it's just bits and there's no law on teh 1nT3rN3Ts and torrenting is kewl because d00dz get free warez, and
  
• Subgroup 2 wants to go on a scorched earth-style cashgrab and fuck anyone who doesn't like it

Subgroup 1 embraces torrenting and mainstream tube methodology and starts sharing porn. Subgroup 2 sees the traffic numbers it generates and jumps into the fray.

Where the "brillian business minds" come in is when they decide to buy paid ads on Subgroup 2's tube sites to leech off whatever traffic they can, and those that decide to offer services to said Subgroup. That's just reactionary on their part.

That's just how I see it.