The overall feeling was similar to other bear markets - agony, despair, etc. However, many of us took to heart the rumors of bitcoin's demise. It seemed likely that bitcoin would, at best, remain something of a hobby for cypherpunks. OTOH, the despair was different. It was more about the loss of a dream, and less about the loss of money. Since BTC was so cheap, most people only had like a few grand invested, at most. Unlike Dec. 2017-18 when even the shoeshine boy lost $100K+.
You guys deserve respect for persevering through that. You pretty much blazed the trail that we could look back on for confirmation that Bitcoin would survive the worst.
^He forgot to mention the crash was engineered then In-Q-Tel bought up all the shitcoins at $2. Shilling for shitcoins indirectly funds US intelligence, unless you follow the "how to make a mint" perspective, then it would be directly funding US intelligence instead of indirectly.