Just a guess....11/28/97
When did whitewater hit the fan?
Nov 28, 1997 is JimRob’s signup date. I suppose you couldn’t sign up any earlier than that...
Funny you should ask...
I was once going to encourage FR mod’s to auction off a (previously banned) 11/28/97 sign-on date ID for $30K on eBay.
I would have bid and even used “Buy It Now.”
:O)
PS: Don’t be fooled by the infamous 11/28/97 sign-on dates.
The forum apparently (granted, I wasn’t born yet) started sometime in mid to late 1996 ... around the time I was but just a fetus and when Matt Drudge was petitioning the tooth fairy.