caribguy - 7:47 pm on Mar 3, 2011 (gmt 0)

my authority site tends to be more "quirky" while my smaller sites are more commercial

Yes, and also noting Jane_Doe's comment below.

Are your smaller sites more likely to feature content that is narrow focused, i.e. one single topic or a handful of closely related topics? Is their site structure and navigation easier to follow than your older large site?

In the Webmaster Forums thread that was referenced by TheMadScientist [webmasterworld.com...] one of the posts mentioned a non-profit that got hammered. Apparently, their site grew out quite haphazardly - not only in terms of scope, but also across three separate tld's. Check to see if you can find any parallels with your situation.