Yeah they definitely were like 2nd gen and even early 3rd gen was pretty unfiltered and more open. Gf stans always existed though and so did crazy sasaengs but there was a lot more dating “scandals” back then like a lot of 2nd gen idols have had like multiple public dating scandals exposed with other idols so I guess both platonic and non platonic relationships were more normalised tbh I think it got more strict in like late 3rd gen and especially 4th and 5th gen they’re literally scared to interact with the opposite sex nowadays lmao even from the same companies