As far as I remember (sketchy), tolerance was never an issue back in the day. We just necked whatever we could get, when we could get it. Nobody ever sat down and compared the feelings, or wrote and compared trip reports. We just indulged in all sorts till the right level was reached one way or another. Though I do think the more widespread use of phet had a huge part to play back in the day. In my experience, phet is the only drug that could almost guarantee a good night.
I think you're right to suspect the power of the Internet though. Too much information clouds reality. You can see it everywhere now. Just look at any review site. Even when averaged out as 4-5 stars, there will always be negatives in there that fly in the face of everyone else. So any experience is subjective. And with drug use, it's subjective by it's very nature. I've had good and not so good experiences with the same batch of crystal which was crushed and mixed up. So there's no other explanation other than good old set and setting. We've all experienced a good old fashioned alcohol only session. Some top nights, and some shite ones. I guess that says it all.
So all we can do is read up and make our own informed decisions, test our MD, and make sure we have the right ingredients (good friends, good tunes etc), and the rest will follow.
Just my thoughts on the matter.