I think your post is probably too long-winded to incite true flames, only increasingly long-winded replies.
In my defense, I wasn't really into trolling forums back in the Fallout 1 days, otherwise I probably would've criticized that too. Now it just seems like it's too late, kind of like criticizing pong for lack of character development.
Being compared is kind of the fate of sequels, particularly those by a third party. I would be pretty comfortable accepting the assertion that Fallout 3 more resembles an Elder Scrolls title than the first two Fallout games. In that sense, it isn't a "true" fallout game. That said, it's the direction the franchise has taken. Perhaps Obsidian will take it in yet another direction, but this won't be a return to the days of old; it will be Obsidian's take on the franchise within the context of every game that has come before (including FO3). People may *claim* it is a "return to the roots" when they discover it's quite good, but it's actually a process of moving the franchise forward rather than backwards.