I've had that feeling too, but I wonder if it's because the good old Internet of enthusiasts enthusiastically posting about the things that enthuse them has given way to the faceless content farms to such an extent that even Google isn't able to filter the signal out from the noise. I.e., I wonder if it is not so much their fault for being less good than they used to be as it is their fault for not being so much better than they used to be.
The end users have changed from enthusiasts who want detail to average people who want to get caught up on a subject quickly. It seems to be two fold and I think google have just given up trying to filter signal to noise and just promote conglomerates that it sees as authoritative.
