So the problem for regular humans is the disappearance of features that they've grown used to having without paying any money. Finding a better way to support themselves has proven remarkably difficult.
There are also a billion other ad-supported web sites, each of which make ten people happy. Not a single one of them would be widely mourned, but 5 billion people would each be saddened by one of them.
For a long time I thought pinterest was search spam that no human could possibly want to see, but then I met real people in the world who like it and intentionally visit the site. I bet there are people who like ehow and the rest, too.
They don't care about what happens to the business itself. But they do care about the things the business provides.
If they don't in fact care, then indeed, nothing is lost. But a lot of people will miss a lot of things. Whoever comes up with an alternative that suits the case will make a lot of people happy.