It was Sean who made me aware of FR, in early 2005. He was saying negative things about it in response to a caller on his show. I remember thinking, "That FR sounds interesting--I should check it out." I did, that day, and have been a happy FReeper ever since.
So for relatively recent members like me, what happened to drive Sean away? The impression I got from his comments is that he disliked the libertarian element of FR.
That's exactly why I ended up here. I joined in February 2005, and lurked for a long time before that but not a lot. It was during the height of the Schiavo mess... I figured if I lasted through that I'd last through anything.