Rules: after going back and forth on this, I decided to allow you to count time periods when you did nothing but lurk without posting. Else I would have to make a two-tiered poll and it would get messy in a hurry. So if you’ve been lurking for 7 years, posting for 2, then that’s 9 years for you as far as this poll is concerned.
Poll is Public.
Let me look at my start date…
…just over 10 years.
Hey! You can’t post before I’ve finished making the poll part!
I lurked for somewhat more than a year before I joined. So even though I get to say “ten years” for the purposes of this poll, I can’t call myself a '99er. Oh well; at least I can say “ten years” in this poll. 
'97er here. There are a handful of '96ers (including Lynn Bodoni and TubaDiva and C K DexterHaven(?) and JillGat (?)) some of whom might even be '95ers for all I know…I’m not entirely sure when the AOL board was born!
Well, ten years on SDMB. I did visit the AOL board in 1997 with the cool graphic of Cecil’s pulsating brain in a jar but did not post. I am not a heavy poster although I did post all during the past decade it has only been in the past couple of years that I have started posting more often. It took me eight years to amass 800 posts, more recently about 800 in the past two years.
I lurked for about a day before signing up. Would have been July of '99, I think.
Look at my profile. 8+ years.
I’m one of those who can say, “Back in the AOL days…” I posted regularly as LauraRae from 1997 to 1999, when The Great Board Changeover occurred. In December 1999, I grew bored with using my actual name as a screenname, and went with the Ruffian avatar. Voila.
I remember the “Who was Mr. Ruda Duda?” threads, and the “Manny peoples” threads, Melin-gate, and the mundane and pointless thread about Titanic wallpaper that would birth a massive MPSIMS thread–that became the massive MPSIMS forum.
Aw. Are we old people cute?
I lurked in December '99 before registering in early 2000, but it’s still not been 10 years.
With lurking, just over ten years, I think. I pre-date Melingate, at least.
Huh. Well I guess I should’ve read the OP before I voted. I’ve been a member for 7 years, but lurked for two years before that.
I started reading the boards by following the links at straightdope.com for threadspotting. I had a young baby and was starved for adult-type humor, and those threads really did it for me! Unlike watching a funny movie, I could just stop wherever I needed, when the baby needed me or was getting into something she shouldn’t. Plus I didn’t have to worry about her hearing anything inappropriate for a baby/toddler.
I’d read, LOL a bunch, read stuff out loud to my hubby, and he’d say “Just join the board!” and I’d say “Oh, no, with the baby, I really don’t have time; besides, I don’t do message boards”. After two years of saying that, I joined. For better or for worse, I’ve been here ever since. . .
Multiple-year lurker. I was read-only for the longest time because I didn’t have the nerve to post from a work computer. (And, for some reason, the blocking software at the library branches in San Diego screened out the board.) I didn’t even have a computer of my own until 2006.
waves hi
Newbie here. I was at a different board for quite a while, but it just wasn’t “fun” anymore and there were strict rules about language, topics, etc. I stumbled across this one, lurked for a few days, LOL’d quite a bit, and decided to make it my new home.
With a join date of July 1999, I bet I have one of the lowest post frequencies, with the exception of lurkers who never post.
Since I am listed as a guest, it does not show my post total: 167 including this one.
I rounded up.
I lurked for at least a year before actually signing up to say something. Having said that, I based my answer on sign up day, which was 9 years ago. Since then, I’ve dazzled the masses with over 200 posts, so I have that going for me.
Since the AOL days. I was 18 then, am 31 now.
I occasionally posted at the AOL board. I remember Cecil’s pulsating brain o’ goodness.