Hi Eclectic,
I happened to see your post just now, and I thought I'd respond. I've been around the fandom since 1998/1999 (when I went to college and finally had an internet connection!). So while I don't think of myself as an "old-timer," I'm probably starting to get there!
As far as I can recall from stories I heard, there was always an online presence for Lois & Clark while it was on ABC, but I can't recall exactly where fans gathered. ABC chatroom? AOL chatroom? Not sure, but I remember that Dean and Teri would interact with fans from time to time via those outlets. You'd have to ask someone who was around when the show was airing - KathyB might know! I'll see if I can get in touch with her.
Anyway, when I joined the fandom, message boards and IRC were the two places FOLCs would gather. There were Zoom's boards (which you can access
here) or later, these boards. Zoomway herself has passed away, I believe, but the boards and her other websites (the redboots website is
here) are now run by another FoLC - not exactly sure who.
If you are interested in the fanfic side of things (which is mostly why I've always enjoyed this fandom), you can access our archive
here. It has a history of the archive which you might be interested in - you can access that
here. I've dabbled in other fandoms here and there, just to check out the fic, but honestly, I've always thought the L&C fic was just some of the highest quality out there. I love that our archive as general editors, so no matter what story you choose to read, it will at least be grammatically correct!
In answer to your other questions, I think one of things that kept me coming back to this fandom was the sense of community. In general, I think FoLCs are helpful, generous, and just all-around nice people. We all donate to help Annette keep these boards running. There have been fundraisers over the years to help out FoLCs who had medical issues. There are tributes on the archive and message boards to those FoLCs who have passed away. When I was most active in the fandom, I was in college, and during that time, there was a group of us who were around the same age. We bonded over our love of L&C, but it went beyond that, and many of us met up in real life. There were phone calls and road trips and beach vacations - all of which were so fun! Some of us still keep in touch to this day (now we are in our late 30s, with jobs and families and all sorts of craziness of life, but we stay connected on facebook or twitter). Anyway, there were - and are! - just some terrific, talented, smart, fun people around FoLCdom!
In answer to your last question, I love that the fandom has kept going - but honestly, I don't really know why, especially because the show is not very easily accessible beyond purchasing the DVDs. I don't know how people are still discovering the series, but I love that they are! I think the show itself represented a simpler time; it has an innocence about it that is still charming, 25 years later. I still love Dean and Teri's portrayal of Clark Kent and Lois Lane. It never gets old to me to watch those two characters fall in love. Superman was always quite secondary (to me, anyway) - the show was really about that relationship. There is drama, but in the end, the good guy always wins, and that theme that love conquers all is really so universal and timeless.
Hope that helps you! Thanks for giving me a chance to walk down memory lane
Tracey
