I'll resist more comment about some Forums being "backwater" just because less people are visiting them except to say I LIKE having some division between topics. I don't want to wade through the GF to find the occasional off-topic thread I'm interested in.
Back on the main topic in THIS thread..
I have a 95% sure memory of my first visit to the BEA being in the summer of 1997 (probably July). I first saw it when clicking on a link from Bust Artist's site (which I found before the BEA). The earliest memory of the Forum I have was a flame war going on between
Captain Canuck and other Forum users. The discussion hinted that this was the second (or more) time that the "discussion" had turned so vicious and people were getting tired of CC's childish/etc. posts. I vaguely recall posts by
users St. Stephan and/or
Palomine trying to calm the situation down.
On the brighter side, I remember that
Goober and
JS used to UL many fine images to the User Gallery about this time (Goober: photos and JS: manga, especially "Blue Eyes"). I was strickly a lurker for about 2-3 years before finally speaking up on the subject of where our online names came from. Shortly after delurking, I started ULing many Xpod images to the UG (5/day was strongly suggested back then as a courtesy, but I don't think it was enforced). I remember the request for hardware (faster modems!, bigger hard drives, etc.) for the server (as well as money).
Er, I'm rambling beyond the initial start date.
My point is.. I was under the impression that the BEA had been running earlier then June 22, 1997; but since I first saw it in July of that year, I can't be certain HOW much earlier. The snapshot of the 1998 website is what I remember how it looked in 1997.