I just did a quick scan through the archive and discovered my first posts recorded there were 2003, making me a twenty year veteran.

Things were a lot pricklier then. But everyone seemed to expect that. The early years of the internets were fun.

How many of the original crew are still here?

My 20 year anniversary is coming up on Mar. 16, according to the info on my archived profile. I was an occasional lurker for probably a year before that though.

My first post was in October 2003 under the name 154, which I used til 2020 when the board went down.

Lurker since summer of 2003 when I saw the board at the EA table at Tape Op Con. Joined the conversation in December of 2003 to discuss the analog versus the digital. It was somewhat intimidating to wade into the shit back then but it turned out to be worth it. I am grateful for the things I have learned, the friends I have made, the new music I have been exposed to, the different perspectives I had never considered but am glad I did, and the opportunity to give steve and andy k all my money in the Tuesday night poker game.

Other than a short period when I moved out west and created a new handle under my real name that I made a few hundred posts with I have always been El Protoolio. I stole the name from someone at that 2003 Tape Op, or maybe the 2002 one, and adopted it as my own since at the time it was a touchy subject and I knew Greg but none of the other EA dudes and just wanted to fuck with the analog jocks. Am I not witty and clever? Are you not entertained?

I was kind of relieved when the first board was mostly deleted by steve as a way to prove his point about how untrustworthy digital information can be. I have made some stupid and ignorant comments that are now lost to the ether. However, who knows what stupid or ignorant shit I will still go on to spew? The future is bright, stay tuned.

You people have kept me honest, creative, and inspired for the last 20 years. I have gone from 30 to 50 years old since then and never once regretted my time here. Sure there have been some disturbed and anti social goons, which this place, or more likely just steve, seems to attract, and there was that one guy who shall not be named, but the good has always far outweighed the bad.

Here’s to another 20 years comrades! Salut!

Pretty sure I signed in around july 2003 and turned twenty a while back. It's crazy. I've always used my actual name.

I 'think' I've been here 20 years.

20 years in march.
i called myself Only Here because you only knew me here. then i met some of you irl so i started using my real name.
my most discussed topic was 'is this racist,' regarding the spanish star spangled banner, which then led to immigration. looking back, much has changed (here), much has not (outside).
still hopeful in the power of community, we just have to convince ourselves it's worth the effort.

Started lurking around October 2003, then, according to the archive:

Joined
Fri Jan 09, 2004 3:52 am

Go to bed, you creep!

I can´t find any infos to my old profile...but I´m quite sure that I started in 2004. Wow. 20 years. Crazy things happened in that period of time. Wonderful things. Horrible things. Wouldn´t want to miss any of them. I´m none of the very active people on this board...but I´m around a lot and I read a lot. Thank you all for being how you are and for staying. You´re a great inspiration to me.

20 years next year. Pretty sure my first post was made in 2005 but I lurked for a bit, plotting my entrance, trying to figure aside from Steve who was the Queen Bea