Good heavens. I knew I had been involved for a while but I joined shortly after the launch so I could celebrate my own 12th anniversary sometime over the next few weeks. Between us all we have a lot of data, weather and history, that we've made available. Splice the main brace fellow OWers.
I'm a longtime veteran too. Don't remember the exact date, but it was within the first couple weeks after project launch.
Where did you first hear about OW? I read about it in a BBC article.