re: a couple of others - Ahem. :)
I came to the MSNBC Space board in '98.
Before actually posting, I have to say that Tom, Phil, Dan, Mark... were the ones that made me jump in. I hesitated for a long time since there were few women there. Intimidating? Of course. For the times, it was a fairly civil board until the cydonuts would come by or differences in opinions would get heated.
Al was nice for taking us in after MSNBC shut down. I remember Dan set up a backup board in case of a blackout.
In many ways this really has been a community.