I understand what you mean about message board recs, although they really aren't any different from the recs one finds on LJ -- in order for them to work, you need to get to know the people on the message boards over time (the same way one collects an LJ friendslist), and thus you can follow recs made by people whose taste you know. Going by the word of random people, unless you're *very* specific about what you ask for in a rec, doesn't work very well -- on message boards or on LJ.

Having said that, however, I'm not sure the message boards would help you, specifically -- you've indicated that the series itself gave you what you wanted, and thus you're not very enticed to read in the first place. That's fair enough. But the boards might help someone else who is more actively interested in fic, so I encourage people to try: the important thing is to be *really* specific about what you want in fic, especially as a newcomer whose tastes aren't well known at the boards.

It's interesting reading something from the perspective of a person who's primarily interested in vidding, though. It's not an aspect of fandom I've been very interested in checking out -- in any fandom, really. (Not so much because of quality issues, but because it just doesn't appeal to me.) But it's good to be reminded that fic isn't the be-all-and-end-all of fandom, so thank you.