Ren the Ghost

Same here. Either those fandom friends move on to fandoms I don't care about, or I lose interest in the fandom we met through. I've found a lot more long-term connection by finding people who have a similar view toward fandom as a whole - who like fannish things, and maybe write fic or make art, and share broader priorities and principles about fandom - as opposed to "we write the same ship and obsess over the same canon." Broader fandom participation tends to be a more long-term thing, where current faves come and go.

I can understand that. I mostly noped out of reading fic in the Good Omens fandom when it reached a certain critical mass. I've loved the book for decades, loved the first season of the show, really enjoyed a lot of meta and fic and such... and eventually it just felt overwhelming. (And that wasn't even as a writer!)