After reading so many other comments I wanted to add that I find fandom now much more friendly, accessible and more of a community than the mailing list days. Mailing lists were almost always ruled with an aunty-voiced rod of iron. Everything was on topic or else, list rules or else: no 'criticism', no this kind of sex, that kind of relationship, those sorts of fans/characters. Be "nice"(tm) or else you'll be "niced" out of here.

Now, fandom isn't behind mailing list walls, so much of it is just out there for you to see before you step into it. Now, I get to know people, more than whether they're a Doyle or Bodie babe. Now I have fan friends, not just fan acquaintances. True, some of those friends are people I knew as fan acquaintances back in the day that was mine. For that I am very glad, but journals and subsequent fan vectors have made my fannish life immensely better.

Now, if someone tries to dominate my fandom with her rules and restrictions and just plain bullying, I can just go find more amenable fandom space.

It was a fantastic thing what so many fans did: supporting online fandom with their money and time and energy by maintaining mailing lists. But I'm glad those days are gone.