I prefer being a “Guest”. I’ll never be expected to clean the toilet.
What I was going to say. Someone beat me to it … again.
I’ll forever lament the fact that I missed out on Charter Member status. I even posted back in the AOL board days…albeit only, like, thrice. When I was ten.
It’s hard to even wake up, some days.
As a new guest to this message board, (first message board actually) I’m wondering what do you glean exactly from the join date?
I use to think Charter Members were some intelligent, philosophical souls looking to impart their wisdom.
They I read some of the crap they post and realize that they are just as crazy as the rest of us.
I actually have noticed the join date a lot too. I’m not sure why though. I guess I do it because the older your start date means you probably haven’t been given the boot for saying really crazy stuff.
Very little but people like to comment on it anyway.
Older dates mean higher places on the mountain and longer, more luxurious white beards.
So I can see the perks for older join dates: beards, lovely mountain views etc, but are there detriments to having a fresh join date? Just curious.
The only thing I can tell is if someone starts something really off the wall, controversial or a thread that seems trolling, looking at the join date usually reveals that they are brand new members. Why? Because anyone who has been here longer than a month knows not to announce that they’re a kitten stomping, spouse beating, Liberace listening proponents of forced abprtions.
Cool. Makes sense.
As others have said, if the post seems a bit odd (well odder than expected, anyway) then I look at the join date. Sometimes that helps explain the oddness. 
Huh. Lucky you! I missed the special “high place on the mountain” offer and am too arthritic to get far up it. 
I want a special funicular railway! A cute water-powered one like this would do nicely. Or perhaps good little mountain ponies for old-dated members.
I think I’m OK about not having the beard, though, although it does sound quite fetching.
Who do you think cleans the toilets in the Charter Member Clubhouse? 
The brand spanking new join dates are the first clue to socks and trolls.
I notice out of curiosity but it doesn’t change my attitude towards any given poster. Sometimes I do look up their exact join date and post count. If I see an off-the-wall post and it’s their join date and post #1, I may react differently than if it were an established Guest or a Member.
I’ve been a charter member, a member and have settled on guest just because I don’t really notice the ads anyway. I’ll look at join date sometimes, but everyone here had a first day so even that means nothing by itself. If someone is being particularly awkward or dense and has a new join date I tend to avoid getting too attached to them. Not that I see anything wrong with being awkward & dense. Obviously.
I don’t pay any attention except when something looks like spam or trolling. And then I look at the join date.
Yep, this.
Quite.
I’ll look at the title and user name of recently locked threads and make a mental bet with myself concerning the OP join date and ban status before opening the thread.
Lately I have been becoming quite wealthy.
I tend to think Charter Members are a bunch of snobbish A-holes.
I usually only notice it if a poster makes some sort of post which makes me wonder, for whatever reason, where they’re located. So I look for the “location” in the upper right-hand corner of their post, and if they’re a guest, it doesn’t show there.