There hasn't been much hockey news, so I'm not talking to people about hockey as much in general. And I'm certainly not deeply involved in non-rpf fandom, but honestly talking to those people (or people who do both) is generally a nicer and less fraught experience, at least off reddit. Also, I've had some bad experiences and there are now people I avoid in rpf (not petty bullshit, and not much to do with hockey, but actually bad; also not anything involving forbidden topics), which also plays into overall fraught-ness.
I feel like it'll be hard to make me not love hockey anymore, so that's there to stay. But my enthusiasm for writing fic is ... much less.
Re: Where is everyone?
There hasn't been much hockey news, so I'm not talking to people about hockey as much in general. And I'm certainly not deeply involved in non-rpf fandom, but honestly talking to those people (or people who do both) is generally a nicer and less fraught experience, at least off reddit. Also, I've had some bad experiences and there are now people I avoid in rpf (not petty bullshit, and not much to do with hockey, but actually bad; also not anything involving forbidden topics), which also plays into overall fraught-ness.
I feel like it'll be hard to make me not love hockey anymore, so that's there to stay. But my enthusiasm for writing fic is ... much less.