Gladiator For Sale: Great Condition

The lifecycle of any fad is:
Underground -> Trendy -> Excessive Media Coverage On the Trendiness -> Assault by Greedy Entrepreneurs -> Withering Away

Back in the 60's, the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco was the Mecca of grooviness. Hippies developed a new culture there that was unlike anything before. The media discovered this strange place, and in the great tradition of parading abnormality, extensively covered the city. Drug dealers and con-men soon moved in and ruined the area.

This formula applies to websites. If you really try to think back, Myspace wasn't always a cesspool of advertising, viruses, and frustration. Before CNN stumbled across it while looking for pictures of OJ it was new and interesting. Before I knew it, my inbox was full of friend requests from girls like "Joy" and "Alexis" who wanted to show me pictures of themselves. I went through 4 computers until I figured out I wasn't as popular as I had thought.

If you even look far back in history you can see this trend. Rome started out as a new, hip city with a lot going for it. As word spread (mostly through sharp or fiery means), barbarians saw a chance to make really fast money. As people entered the city with job opportunities ranging from looter to violent looter, interest in the city quickly fell through.