those were the years people read blogs and found new people via webrings. they actually browsed the internet. most people found what they liked themselves, and thre was no approved list of people youre allowed to like and there was very little network effects. Your premise, that without algorithms people can't find things they like online, is false and proven so by recent history. all the algorithms do is direct your attention for you, which is usually not good for anyone.

There are these things called hashtags that do exactly what you're talking about. And yes, you can search for hashtags on nostr.