"I keep wondering-- did people just stop talking about it, or did the gods of the internet decide it was not a "safe" topic and squelch it. If so... *why*??"

More than one person began to realize there was an objective quality to these that they supposedly should not posses; and began moving in the direction of what in internet slang is often called "woo". In other words, they began to use these to shift towards occultism, and hat is a huge problem for our soi disant betters.