Agreed I think the apps and custom interfaces have come a long way and are already serviceable. The real piece missing are the organically grown niche communities being active and years of content backlog to build upon. Sadly this can't easily be forced.

I'm also missing some communities (for example active financial/stock ones), but I sadly don't think I have the time to moderate one myself. So I'm in a similar situation as you and just try to comment a bit more than usual