I lurked for almost a decade (before RoTS), joined in late 2012. It was just my love of the Universe, which is still there, and this community which is also thankfully still here to make me laugh, think etc.
I joined in 2002 a few months after AOTC came out. Although it is now my least favorite of the films, at the time I was obsessed with it. I've never posted very much but I always enjoyed reading what the community has to say on various topics. I especially enjoyed the build up to ROTS and the non-spoiler discussions for that movie that I participated in.
I think our family got its first computer in late 1999. The Phantom Menace had come out, and I had been big on Star Wars before the special editions came out. I discovered Timothy Zahn's books, then the X-wing novels, and got into the games. Rogue Squadron for the N64 stands out, the X-wing flight simulators for the PC, and the Star Wars: Rebellion strategy game. So, we got online for the first time, and I immediately began searching for places for Star Wars news. TheForce.net must have come up quickly on a google search, and I found the forums quickly after. I don't think I've looked at the main page of TF.N once since then.