There were dozens of sites dedicated to flash tutorials and getting started for amateurs. It was a highly focused _creative_ environment with low barrier to entry. It allowed and encouraged cross pollination. Flash was a drawing program, Animation, IDE, Game Development, Web development even audio and video editing, with no clear lines between any of the functions.

It was a one stop shop for creative expression with thousands of people learning the program and excited to share their knowledge.

Nothing does what flash did, because flash did everything and everyone was using it.