It was in mid 1998 and I was trying to find an answer to an arcane problem involving United Mileage Plus, using one of the early search engines (Alta Vista, I think).

One of the hits I followed led to a posting by some guy named Rudi who not only put me onto the right answer, but sidetracked me into spending about the next hour or so reading the entire site (it was about a week old at that time, and already full of helpful hints and information). From there, it became an almost-daily habit to check in and see what was new. Pretty soon someone had a question I was able to help on, and I began active participation. I'm certainly happy I did.

A few months later, I was able to meet Rudi in the old SFO RCC as our paths crossed. And then a year and a few months after that I met a whole slew of new old friends at the PiP.