Unfortunately I think it is mostly a matter of Hussie being the first easily-accessible author that people could literally just message over the internet and would actually respond. I don't think there was really a precedent for that scale of fan interaction, and I struggle to think of any other author who has been so involved with the fanbase. They didn't really anticipate that Homestuck would be as popular as it was, so of course she didn't bother to set up a PR team or "brand" until after the harassment got to the point it was needed.