LJ is quiet - even on my dinky flist, although there are still some folks around who are faithfully regular. I will admit to being more part of the problem than part of the solution though. I blame life - I can barely keep up with comment notifications/responses, let alone actualfax posting at the moment.

I'd be interested in your academic books though, even if no-one else would :)

On your ideas:

Fandom friending meme sounds good to me. I am larely allergic to most anonymous memes though - they seem to attract wank like moths to flames and I tend to just avoid them wholescale as a result.