The internet fandom moment has more to do with attitudes, which probably would have come with more exposure to life in general. Flamewars and sullen truces happen offline too. :-)

Cherryh and Bujold can both write outside their "area" when they want to, which is why they're both awesome authors. But they do have fall-backs that don't work well on autopilot. (Sharing Knife, I am so looking at you.)