SA is a place with a lot of interesting contradictions; it's been around since the early days of the Web ('99) and somehow survived through several waves of dot com implosions (eFront, etc) to the present day. It is highly moderated and hosts some of the best topic-specific communities this side of Reddit, but also spawns edgy and dark humor and internet memes. The $10 fee was started in 2001 before such things like that done on the Web and that allowed the site to finally be self-sustaining and free from having to join ad-sharing groups or another content network.

I've been reading since 2000 and while I don't participate as much as I used to, I still enjoy keeping up with some of the communities there.

It's al right. After reading the current SA I decided not to go for the archives package. I just didn't like it. The way people were banned, unbanned was meant to look like funny but I didn't. Sometimes it looked like bullying, sometimes just assholery, sometimes just like absurd moderator actions. But then again I thought I was not going to fit in anyway and there's sth that I am missing to fit it. So, I just visit and login like once or twice a quarter. I never posted anything.

Good choice, archives have been down for a month anyway.

What are the "SA" forums?

> It's a peer of 4chan.

That is highly inaccurate

Not really. I am a member too and I must add that even the moderators do (almost all the time) that what is frowned upon when he 4chan do it. But hey, to each his own.