The root of the problem in my opinion was the Conference management's aggressive wish to have more teams going up and down from the Football League, thus flooding the Conference with clubs like Oxford, Carlisle, Exeter, York, Shrewsbury, Hereford, Chester, Cambridge etc. who were always going to raise the competition bar beyond the means of clubs like Weymouth, Canvey, Telford, Margate, Crawley, etc. not because they are/were better sides, but because their crowds, averaging a minimum of 2,500 and in Oxford's case over 6,000 (!), would always give them more money under the wage cap rule.
A well run part-time club like Altrincham will be here for years to come while the likes of Weymouth, Crawley, Gravesend, Accrington etc will disappear into the abyss precisely because these clubs cannot compete long term with clubs with a bigger financial structure. On a bigger scale, the same thing happened to Leeds - they tried to compete with Man United, Arsenal etc and managed it for a couple of years but it could never be sustainable. The ultimate in "sh*t or bust" football.