It had plenty of good content. But where was it hosted? If it was a university personal page, school, part of your ISP account, etc, then it didnt really cost anything to host. Heck, I used to post all kinds of free content such as how I got my linux box working as a router, step by step help, electronics projects, etc. I enjoyed creating content if others would benefit from it.
But back in the day, there were fewer people on the internet. Now, you almost need an ad or two to run the hosting if you have any kind of traffic at all. I mean, how else are we to put servers up? Don't get me wrong though, I'm all for providing free information, but not if I have to pay for bandwidth.