Yes, LOTRFF.com certainly seemed to be a wonderful mix. I found LOTR stories I loved there as well as Silm.

Fandom ‘splitting’ is sad, and I still believe, from my own reading experience I’ve the years, that if a writer knows the Legendarium (not necessarily as a scholar, but familiar with the Silm, *and* LOTR *and* the Hobbit) their fanfic is so much better; you can sense the broader history behind everything they write.