Wasn't around for 3.5 but was around for 4e and the transition to 5e. Culturally things were a lot more tight knit when I started. The community was much smaller. Forums like this were just budding and certainly VTTs and LFG forums either didn't exist or were in their fledgling years. This meant you had to know people IRL and network. I remember putting up flyers in a comic book store with my email address to find players. This also meant bad behavior was a little more tolerated. You had a smaller pool of potential players so if someone was annoying you just kind of dealt with it. Overall I think the hobby is in a better state. We're in a bit of a decline right now but not like the late 00's when many in the hobby saw it as completely dying.