Getting used to rpol
I think Pathfinder goes in waves...some people really like it, it will surge in popularity for a while on here, then it kind of wanes again. The same seems to hold true for any older gaming system, really...old fans of it will decide they miss it, want to start playing again, new people hear about it and decide to check it out...some like it, some don't, some liked it before but it was largely a matter of the chemistry of the group they played in...
Personally, I have never tried Pathfinder, so I'm really not sure at all what you mean by them being 'underutilized'. There are, however, extremely basic standards of what must be included for a game to 'go live', and extensive background information isn't one of those standards...some people really get into it, some people do the barest essentials, and some people look at it and ask, "Just what would be a reasonable amount for these characters to know? They don't need to know that, they wouldn't know that, knowledge of that would be rare enough that I'll handle it on a case-by-case basis..." etc. And, from what I understand, PF has a world that it's set in, of sorts, so some GMs might not bother writing much about it because they figure most players who are interested in PF already know a lot of it...or they're just borrowing the rules and creating their own setting, and they haven't decided how much detail about their overall world they need to share from the beginning. That seems to be what you were talking about (but it IS 2am here and I could be reading that all wrong...my apologies, if I am).
Keep poking around...it can take a while to find a game that's the 'right fit', but having managed it a few times, I definitely feel like it's worth it. You could also try posting something in the 'Wanted:GMs' forum, if there are specific things you're looking for in a game. D&D and PF are both common enough systems that you've got decent odds of finding a DM who would take a crack at your game idea.