I remember the first time a wanted to post, and when I actually posted. It was during Monica. I was such a noob, I was afraid to post, but I had so much to talk about. FR was so small then, you had to know your stuff. I could read every thread and every post in 1998. So, I waited and lurked. finally, I was confident, I went crazy and started posting during the supreme court hearings of the 2000 gore v bush.
I know, I spend quite a bit of time reading here and just can't keep up with the intellectuals. My pea brain still thinks I should add my 2 cents. It is kinda like my computer knowledge--I know just enough to be dangerous--to myself.
Related to your post (but not the rest of the thread), I started lurking on FR in 2000 (first viewed in 1999). Didn't join until the aftermath of 9-11-2001.
I was reading World Net Daily daily before I joined (so I was still getting the "headlines" from different news sources).
I'll read a WND thread now and then but haven't surfed that site in years.