I posted a few times on the AOL board, then joined the web board in july of 99
Like some of the others I started on the AOL boards in (I think) '96. So something over 13 years I guess. I’ve been a steady if not very prolific poster for pretty much all that time.
Started lurking in '99, got up the nerve to post in… I can’t remember without looking at my join date! Um, 2000?
test
I can’t believe it’s been more then nine years for me. Time just flies, or something.
Less than 1 year of actually being a member of the board and posting, but lurked occasionally before that.
I will add that I’ve been reading “The Straight Dope” since it appeared in a now-defunct weekly newspaper (a temporary competitor of the original Creative Loafing) in Atlanta around 1984. I also own the first three books, purchased soon after publication of each.
I have just come up on my 10th anniversary. Lot of 99ers here. 
Do you know if the AOL board was around in '95? Would there be any '95’ers?
I first read and enjoyed Cecil’s columns in 1974.
I’m not sure how much of a conclusion I can draw from the non-scientific sample here, but, while I knew things would skew towards the top end, I didn’t guess it would skew so lopsidedly, esp. given the now-free posting we have. I’d imagine that 99% of all message boards would skew heavily the other way.
Is being a regular on a message board for 10 years unusual? I wonder how many other message boards are older than ours and still very active?
Plenty, and some famous ones too, but I won’t name them.
And yes, judging by the member-base of your typical MB it is quite normal to have been a regular for ten years.
Well, there’s The Cellar, which has been around since September of 1990. Not as large a membership as the SDMB, but just as active.
With lurking? - 10 years - as a member, a little over 9.
There may be a little self-selection bias. Some people seem to take pride in how long they have been a member (see the occasional wailing and gnashing of teeth when someone lets a charter membership lapse), so longtime members may be more motivated to respond to the poll.
7 years. My first post I put in Great Debates, but it was moved to Cafe. Although I understood the difference, I thought my post would generate a debate and figured the lines were a little gray.
Officially since Spring of 99, but I’ve been a doper since at least late 96, that I can remember.
The things I could have accomplished in my life if I didn’t have the Dope would be staggering. The things I have learned from this place are staggering.
Join Date
10-25-2000
IIRC I had registration issues that I waited for a while before ironing out, but surely not more than 10 months. So 2000 seems right for me. I’d have been 17.
I can remember reading the boards on AOL during my sophomore year of college, which was '95-'96. Exactly what month I first started, though, I no longer remember, so it might possibly have been '95. I too remember the Titanic Wallpaper thread.
But I’ve almost entirely lurked all those years…I think I’ve posted more in the past few months than in all those other years combined. I have no idea why…maybe staying home with a small child all day has made me hunger for adult conversation like never before.
I’ve been on this board since 2001. But I used to post on the AOL boards (albeit infrequently) back as far as 1998. I was 15 then. I’m now 26. Kinda scary.