This feels very familiar to me! Part of it is my nostalgia for LJ is tied into my nostalgia for my earlier life (with less responsibilities and way more free time), but I agree that fandom feels differently on DW than it did on LJ/Tumblr, and I think it DOES feel more formal in comms than it used to. And I think that's just because it's part of the culture here, now?

I also liked what someone said upthread about the shift to mobile use changing how people write things. It's much harder to type out long posts on a phone, and DW isn't super mobile-friendly compared to other platforms anyway. More barriers!