>> The Fox community was certainly the first and only thing of its kind (and at the time, really the only game in town)

Those were the days when it cost $ to post so you really had to want to participate and there was nothing contrived about it. I'm sure you recall the likes of Lisa Slater and Dr Dave chatting cheerfully to all comers. Later on, other people and vendors thought they could invent their own community to rival this, but when you cut out the voluntary organic growth and replace it with something calculated, the joy goes out if it. Seems to me that a lot of groups these days are characterized by the schoolyard taunt rather than humble luminaries knowing that they have two eyes and two ears as well as a mouth...