FWIW, at the Snupin con I went to, there was a wide range of papers, from academic to humorously non-aca. I loved it all. As someone from the aca side, I sometimes feel like I am Really Damn Boring because all I seem to be confident doing is Writing Dull Things On Canon. So I feel like I don't have the imagination to be non-aca.
Obviously I am not saying that acafandom is always dull (just the way *I* do it!), nor that non-aca is always funny.
In aca discussion, I can defend my viewpoint through academic explanations. In non-aca, if people say "you're WRONG" I tend to believe them (just as I believe that my choice of reading matter is rubbish and my taste in music is rubbish and and and and I watch the wrong TV programs). Because it's a more personal thing in some ways, people feel more able to tell you that you're talking nonsense. So I shy away from non-aca meta because I think people are going to tell me that my opinions show what an idiot I am.
I may not be making much sense. I think my lack of self-esteem keeps me from non-aca-meta because it's so much more PERSONAL then.