>people didn't act like this in 2004, maybe one or two dozen people did, but this is a 2010/2012 thing
There was a waaay bigger group of web users posting like that on the internet than "one or two dozen" in 2003-2004, and it was extremely commonplace (at least on the "teenagers being retarded" side of the net) by 2005-2007

It was still common in certain n00b-friendly places for a couple years after that point - mostly coming during or slightly after the whole LOLcats boom of 2007-2008 - but they were extremely late to the party. All the OGs (including myself) had already moved on, and there was a lot more of a "no fun allowed" culture after that

Saying it was a "2010/2012 thing" (which in fact was peak "no fun allowed") reveals more about your own n00bness than artist-san's