# How many Charter Members are still left? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [October 30, 2007, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-charter-members-are-still-left/424575 "2007-10-30T14:45:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2007, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-charter-members-are-still-left/424575/41 "2007-11-02T20:45:53Z")
How many Charter members are right? ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2007, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-charter-members-are-still-left/424575/42 "2007-11-02T21:17:57Z")
[QUOTE=Zebra] How many Charter members are right? [/QUOTE] Duh, all of them. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-charter-members-are-still-left/424575/43 "2007-11-03T00:33:52Z")
How much could someone get for a charter membership on eBay? I would never sell mine but if someone was desperate… ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-charter-members-are-still-left/424575/44 "2007-11-03T00:52:35Z")
Present. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-charter-members-are-still-left/424575/45 "2007-11-03T01:08:35Z")
I’m here. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-charter-members-are-still-left/424575/46 "2007-11-03T01:17:33Z")
Me, somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Risha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Risha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Risha)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-charter-members-are-still-left/424575/47 "2007-11-03T01:39:11Z")
If this turns into a “post if you’re still here” thread, then we might just be able to make this the longest thread ever! (Here.) ---
**Author:** ![D-bear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@D-bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D-bear)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-charter-members-are-still-left/424575/48 "2007-11-03T01:47:11Z")
[QUOTE=Graycat] Another Charter Lurker. [/QUOTE] Charter Lurker here as well… And just mere weeks from qualifying as a 99’er ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-charter-members-are-still-left/424575/49 "2007-11-03T01:58:00Z")
[QUOTE=D-bear] Charter Lurker here as well… And just mere weeks from qualifying as a 99’er [/QUOTE] What is the significance of “99’er”? ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-charter-members-are-still-left/424575/50 "2007-11-03T02:22:10Z")
[QUOTE=Risha] If this turns into a “post if you’re still here” thread, then we might just be able to make this the longest thread ever! (Here.) [/QUOTE] I’m still here. You decide whether that’s cause for mourning or rejoicing. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-charter-members-are-still-left/424575/51 "2007-11-03T02:29:15Z")
Just the other day, I found a charter member(since 2004) who has never posted. How would you count them? ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-charter-members-are-still-left/424575/52 "2007-11-03T07:06:21Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] Just the other day, I found a charter member(since 2004) who has never posted. How would you count them? [/QUOTE] As a charter member? WTF else? What is this bizarre surrealism going on in this thread? > [@TubaDiva](#): > > I can tell you that Charter Members are more than half of our current subscriber base. We’ve been a pay site for how long now? 3 years, I think. Close to a third of the community’s existence? Charter Members should be a lot lower, percentage wise, if this were a properly growing community, IMHO. Especially when you consider how many of the non-“Charter Members” are still actually old hands. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-charter-members-are-still-left/424575/53 "2007-11-03T07:20:06Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] Just the other day, I found a charter member(since 2004) who has never posted. How would you count them? [/QUOTE] How is someone who joined in 2004 a Charter Member? Or is that another one who lapsed earlier and returned? And how did you folks become Charter Members? I mean, how did you know there was about to be a Straight Dope board? Was it like all those monks who spontaneously showed up to hear the Buddha preach that time? Just knew it? ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-charter-members-are-still-left/424575/54 "2007-11-03T07:27:10Z")
[QUOTE=Astroboy14] I’m not. [/QUOTE] I’m not either. > [@Siam Sam](#): > > And how did you folks become Charter Members? I mean, how did you know there was about to be a Straight Dope board? Was it like all those monks who spontaneously showed up to hear the Buddha preach that time? Just knew it? Yes, we all have precognition. Actually, the Dope existed for several years before it went to paid subscriptions. We weren’t Charter Members until that time. ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-charter-members-are-still-left/424575/55 "2007-11-03T12:00:08Z")
**Siam Sam** , keep an eye out for threads asking how people found the Dope. They come up once or twice a year. Typical answers are 1) they saw a link on AOL or [bored.com](http://bored.com) or some other site, 2) they knew about the books and looked for a Web site and eventually saw the link to the boards, 3) they were looking for an answer to a question and one of their search results was a column or something with a link to a thread. \*\*\*However, \*\*\* I don’t think I’ve ever read anything about the original member base, or how there even came to be a board on AOL, for that matter. So, **Tuba** (and anyone else who was around back then), how’d everything start up? ::Pulls up chair:: GT ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-charter-members-are-still-left/424575/56 "2007-11-03T12:26:22Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] What is the significance of “99’er”? [/QUOTE] Old farts who joined up in the first year. I think I held off for about three weeks, until the splinter groups settled down. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-charter-members-are-still-left/424575/57 "2007-11-03T12:32:39Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] What is the significance of “99’er”? [/QUOTE] It signifies having joined before 2000. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-charter-members-are-still-left/424575/58 "2007-11-03T12:49:12Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] It signifies having joined before 2000. [/QUOTE] Doesn’t it also signify joining the first year it was possible to join? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-charter-members-are-still-left/424575/59 "2007-11-03T13:10:15Z")
… as we continue to scuttle about, like horseshoe crabs, while other, flashier entities come and go like mayflies… ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2007, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-charter-members-are-still-left/424575/60 "2007-11-03T13:36:27Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] Doesn’t it also signify joining the first year it was possible to join? [/QUOTE] Yes indeed. It also signifies joining the year Ahmed H. Zewail won the Nobel prize for Chemistry. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-charter-members-are-still-left/424575.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-charter-members-are-still-left/424575.md?page=4)