Obviously its never going to be 2005 again.
online poker is not a hidden secret, which have been waiting 20 years for someone to discover it. Today players have a lot of software and training material at their disposal, and most games are close to being solved. So optimal play is within reach of anyone, who bother putting in the work to learn it and then also has the disciplin to carry it out.
In top of that the internet has also reached mid income countries like Russia or
brasil, where making 5$ an hour playing online poker is pretty attractive to a lot of people. And therefore we now see "regulars" even at limits, where 20 years ago it was almost only recreational players filling up the tables.
But that being said in micro and low stakes games there are still many recreational players, who have taken advantage of none of all the knowledge or software available. They have just learned the rules of the game, made a deposit, and now they are sittting down at a table or two to have some fun. Chase some draws, wim-bam-boo, left and right, dust a stack away, and then the tournament is over. Or in some cases the cash game session, because often these players dont reload, when they get busted.
So its really a matter of perspective and expectations. Yes poker is surely more difficult now, than it was in 2005, even though I have no personal experience, because I did not play back then. But its still not difficult to beat micro and low stakes games and to make an amount like 500$ per month, if you put in a lot of hours at the tables.
So its just, that online poker is no longer a "get rich quick" scheme, and if you live in a country with high living costs, then being a full time online poker pro is probably not a career, you want to try and pursue. As PokerPoet2 say, most of those, who actually try, also have significant side income from streaming or other sources like being sponsored by a
poker site.