The title says it all. I’ve been a member since 8-15-2001 and finally remembered this board when going through an old hard drive.
It’s been a while. What’s changed? What’s stayed the same?
Wilcome beck! Ze bord’z priddy metsh thuh seim. Som pipple hev left, utherz urrived. Sum pipple sei thuh aksent’s tscheinged tho.
Opal has passed away. So has Polycarp.
I had heard about OpalCat, but not Polycarp. Polycarp lived sorta near me, I thought.
Well, for a while, it seemed like the site had really lost its thunder. I sense that it’s coming back now.
Like anyone remembered me… 
And Lynn Bodoni.
Was the horrible spectre of the goat and squid around in 2001 ?
In the last 5 years, I’ve retired, then held 3 temp jobs. I’m re-retired until I get bored and look for work again.
But since I don’t recall interacting with you, I imagine you probably don’t much care. But welcome back to the fold. It’s still more fun than a sharp stick in the eye!
There has, of course, been some turnover amongst the moderators. Perhaps most notably, C K Dexter Haven has retired.
Kesha is now the SDMB’s favorite singer (at least from my perspective).
Welcome back!
A little curious, how did you quit the Dope? Was it cold turkey?
The rest of us haven’t been able to escape.
Well, we still haven’t succeeded in fighting off ignorance…
Welcome back!
Where’s the damn pie?
I’ve started my plan to overthrow Cecil. Phase 1 complete. Other than that, not much.
Lightnin’ will be so happy you returned. They just haven’t had the impact they did before you left.
Of course I care! 
Actual reality before virtual reality. And also failing to save my bookmarks before the inevitable hard drive crash. Ugh
The board went through a period where we were all deeply enamored with Dick Cheney. So much so we had a sub forum dedicated to him called “Praising the Dick”. It was quite popular and attracted a lot of attention. The moderators finally deemed it too sycophantic and hid it.
About 2 years ago we had the SDMB party. Cecil footed the bill, bought everybody plane tickets to his private island where he footed the bill for all the booze and strippers we could handle. There was an orgy and a few goats were sacrificed. Elvis performed - turns out his death was a hoax after all! As far as I know no naval deployments but there’ve been no parties since.
We pissed off some guy in Hollywood - good times.
Nothing much, but no one dares mention “lions” and “tig**s” in the same thread anymore.
Oh wait, five years ago? Was that just before or just after Putin started posting under his real name? Then NSA started ******** the boards and there were allegations that they were ******* comments, but ****** never ******** and ******** *******, *******. I don’t ******* or ****** but ******* *******. ******* claims ******* .
I’m so happy that is **********.
I’m even sexier now than I was then, if you can believe that.