I was specially requested to contribute to this thread by thread starter DV. So here you go.
I was not on these boards in 1999. I was taking care of Y2K issues for various companies and therefore too busy to do anything else. I did not even know that some such thing exists. I stumbled on these boards in 2006 during the process of conducting some research . I joined GS under a different nick but I was harassed by OMG and Sara516 so I quit after a couple of weeks. Then I joined some other Pakistani boards but got bored and busy again so quit but I learned a few tricks about how to deal with all kinds of annoyances on public forums . Last year at work I was bored so I was surfing the net and I came across Gupshup again . So I joined it under the nick Mirch and rest is history.
For your viewing pleasure I can give you a glimpse of General now Cafe forum page from 1999.
Click image for larger picture.