12/23/99
I didn’t post much at first, but now I run the Death Pool!
2000 for me.
And every time the renewal comes up, I ask myself why I’m wasting the money. Then I justify it by saying that I’m paying a fee to not be bombarded with bullshit advertising.
Charter member (and mostly lurker) checking in. I’m paid up through 2017, so I don’t accidentally lose the title.
I pay for the SDMB like I donate to NPR or pay for Pandora. Yeah it could be free, but I get tremendous value and enjoyment out of it, so I vote for continuation of the service with my dollars.
'99er and Charter Member here. Happy to pay the fee if it keeps this dive afloat.
I’ve been here since back when tying onions to your belt was still in style.
Mike might put it that way, but around here the masses are known for their teeming.
Actually, when the board went pay-to-post, they were still just members. People who didn’t pay still had their accounts, and were made “guests”, and guests had a very limited number of posts they could make - IIRC 10.
When the board revoked P2P, they created the Charter Member status for anyone who was a paid member during P2P, and they got half price fees for life, as long as they kept current. Fail to keep current, poof it goes away forever.
Subsequently there was a period it would be reinstated if you made the right sacrifice to the right gods, but I think that’s no longer an option.
So there are plenty of 99ers who never were "Charter Member"s, and there are plenty of CMs who lapsed and no longer get that status.
All paid members get no ads and a higher PM limit IIRC.
I’m happy with my Charter Member status, the no ads, and the discounted subscription fee.
What I’m unsure of is whether '99er refers merely to the calendar year of registration, or if it implies being a member when the board was on AOL. Whenever I see a reference to '99ers, I hesitate to count myself among their number.
Well, I’m still here, as a Charter Member. Hard to believe that I’m coming up on 15 years of membership, but there you go.
What I have always thought is more interesting is not whether someone is a Charter Member, but their ‘joining number’. For example, in this thread, Rico is the earliest - being number 207.
I believe I’m still a Charter Member. This post will tell.
This has always puzzled me, as I don’t know, for as long as I’ve been here, where to find the joining number.
Click on user name, go Public Profile, Contact Info, at the end says u= and a number.
Or, even quicker, just hover over the name, and look at the bottom of the screen.
Wow. Learn something every day!
Salutes
Thanks, 58207! 
I’m one of the lucky ones who lapsed, and got the moniker back. However, I lost the discount. It’s still a bargain if it keeps the lights on.
Back on November 28, 2011, spinky, using computer skills that are beyond my keen, produced an 11 megabyte text file, http://sdmbexample.nfshost.com/profiles2.csv , which included the member listing as of that date. If I’ve done my research correctly, that file has 730 Charter Members, including a handful who have never posted. (Their favorite movie is “Run Silent, Run Deep”.)
Perhaps if we ask nicely spinky will update the list.
Wow. I knew I was early but not THAT early… I must have come signed up as soon as it was announced on AFCA.
Are there many other active users below 1000 that aren’t mods?