Separate the boys from the men you say. Well. Real men are not afraid of changes and adapting to changes. You know who are afraid of changes and trying new things ? Little boys. The boys will stay with vanilla cause adapting to the real world is too difficult for them.
And no, the community aint huge. Private server/piracy community, perhaps. When you get a vanilla like experience. Not vanilla as you think it will be, and ontop of that, you have to pay for it. Most likely with having a regular wow sub. It will boot faster than you think and hope.