Instead of continuing my writing career, I now work with other authors to publish their projects. I'll continue to work on the Web Graphics book though. I monitor the newsgroup and will say hi there occaisionally, but I don't read it daily. It is a great resource though. Many of the ones I see seem to distract my attention from the message rather than enhance the message.
Animations are VERY powerful tools.
You see them on virtually every web page, particularly in banner advertisements. My personal belief is that in page design, use animation very sparingly. I am not as familiar with the various user groups, so I can't give an opinion too much. Very nice, very knowledgeable and very good people. I have a Sony mavica at home, but find that the quality is not what I would like it to be.