Yeah - there's more of a drive to get my thoughts out of my head and into fic or meta when no one else has already talked about the thing in question, or posted fifty similar fics yet. I don't spend less time thinking about it, because when I get obsessed I get obsessed, but wiith a really popular thing I can have all those thoughts while reading and reacting to what other people have already posted, and I get to spend a lot of time in that headspace and share it with others without having to initiate anything. *g*