FWIW internet email worked fine for decades when all that were using it were well-behaved academics. But once commercial interests saw an angle, a lot of layers of protection were added. Domain verification (DKIM and SPF), inbound SPAM filters (that scan messages for unwanted content) and even blacklists (https://kb.smtp.com/article/997-the-3-most-common-email-blacklists).

The internet very quickly went from open protocols to various kinds of editorial choices. Without them the vast majority of I’ll of information is very difficult to use.

The savior here is many people at many points in the chain making editorial decisions as openly as possible, not pretending we function (at scale) without them.