I still only conceptualized it as a thing that existed, rather than a community, if that makes sense

That's so interesting. The earliest fic I read was for X-Files and I had something of the same experience with the fic side of things because all I saw was an archive. I'm sure there were email lists and forums somewhere, but I didn't really know how/have particular interest in finding them.

But then I very quickly got into fandom through Yahoo Groups which was all about the community even more than about the fic. It took until Harry Potter to really balance the two sides.