Why did people waste 20 years of their lives obsessing over Misty leaving?

[precita]

Looking through the archives people wasted 20 years of their lives obsessing over Misty leaving pokemon, and she stayed gone for 20 years besides a handful of eps at the end.

Why on earth did people think Misty was important?

[Del]

mad respect, you've been hater-posting about Misty for over a decade now, keep up the good fight

(it's very obviously because she was the first female co-lead, and after Brock left and came back, people hoped she would too, since there was precedent for it, and also children like the things they like, and they liked Misty. it's not that deep)