You'd have to ask the people that didn't play the 90s iterations but played the modern day version
Personally it makes no difference for me but surely it's clear that 90s lore has lacked the player base modern versions has on average? The reason doesn't make a difference, but the number of people or lack of for 90s versions is clear, whether it's because people don't get their nostalgia trip or because 90s is less appealing to a new player, new to the community than a modern day server. In the instance where a potential player is completely new to nebulous, they can relate to the modern setting without reading war and peace on lore. The majority of Stasiland players were veterans of WW3RP and its greatest failure was its inability to attract a new player base, relying on those from the past.
As I said, unless the server was a cyberpunk-esque/futuristic server I would be happy to play any version but the most important thing is making a decent guess on what the new player wants and I just can't see how 90s versions have achieved this, no matter the reason. This does feel a bit like a broken record though