In early 2004, I started reading a handful of blogs (I didn't use an RSS reader yet, I was checking each one by hand), and two of them- the Advice Goddess blog and the now-defunct personal blog of Mefite epenthesis- linked to Metafilter quite often. I was a student at a small liberal arts college where the student body seemed to pride itself on not knowing anything that was going on in the world, so Metafilter was an oasis for me. I still remember how happy I was when memberships opened on November 18th, 2004- I even listed this as one of the 3 things I was thankful for when my family did their annual Thanksgiving game later that month. My grandfather was very confused.
The Community
I'd be remiss if I mentioned anything other than all the wonderful friends I've made through the community. There's my husband, of course (of course!), but also a large group of Mefites all over the country, heck, the WORLD, that I Twitter and Facebook with, see at meetups, and travel with. I've attended Mefite weddings and babysat for Mefite children. What a fabulous community to be a part of, I would do almost anything for you people.