You and I signed up on the first day of registration: 11-28-1997. FR is not like the FR of old. Too many trolls. But it is still a good place to get information and news.
I found FR through the Drudge Report. He had a link to FR he'd labeled "Whitewater Files." I probably heard about Drudge's site via Rush's radio show.
You're right that this place has changed quite a bit since we signed up, but it's still the first place I come to when it comes to the news. I haven't watched any news programming on any network or platform since Obama was elected in November 2008.