> Cheap, simple, easy, fast
I mean, this page is not simple, easy, or fast to develop. Instead of just writing a simple article, the author had to source/create at least 2 dozen images with no value only to lay them out on the page in the middle of paragraphs, making the article as hard to read as they could muster.
Enjoy the nostalgia and break from modern clean websites, but anything else justifying the look of this page is just crazy. And connecting it to modern services and the downfall of the internet or whatever just sounds like you're trying to be edgy.
We are in a massively better place now than a decade or two ago as far as the internet being accessible to everyone, both on the publisher and consumer side, despite the hate for big corps.