You definitely have a lot of important points here, and by all means; I do not want to take the focus off the creation of original stuff that we've got here. That's very precious that we're able to hold onto, and that should be treasured, by all means.
But still; I think I'd like a place for the fans to engage with each other, even if that means it being off tapastic (I mean, if this kind of subforum could lead to more focus on popularity, I'll agree that making it a forum is a bad idea)
I don't want it to have obligations tho? That wasn't my point at all. It's not about trying to produce a lot of fan material, but a space to share it if you want, as a part of an environment that's engaged about that universe or whatever it is they love about the comic!
I'm not talking about replacing any of the good ways to support creators here; I love how tapastic works currently. But I know that as a fan of certain comics here(and yes, I do create my own stuff too, but that's not what I want to focus on right here), I've really missed a space where I can just nerd out without it also having to be a constructive comment to the creator in there, you know? I do love that there's not a huge between readers and creators like there tends to be on a lot of other creative SNS's I've been on, but yeah. I find it hard to find other fans to talk to, so what I really want here is an easier way to reach out to them! 
