Thinking about it, I'm feeling like the answer is probably just volume. When fandom was smaller, we all read more widely because that's what there was, but now we have more choice we stick to our tastes (and what's popular is what's popular, can't argue with that). I suspect the same is happening in genre profic now too (which is why I have a harder time finding sf/f books I enjoy, everyone is narrowing to specific audiences).
Re: Losing Yuletide
Thinking about it, I'm feeling like the answer is probably just volume. When fandom was smaller, we all read more widely because that's what there was, but now we have more choice we stick to our tastes (and what's popular is what's popular, can't argue with that). I suspect the same is happening in genre profic now too (which is why I have a harder time finding sf/f books I enjoy, everyone is narrowing to specific audiences).