Noobs, lurkers : Hot tip

When I first joined, one of my first questions was about the value of joining. I was told straight out to hold off joining for a bit until I was sure this place was what I was looking for. Well, about a year later I sent my payment in and I would like to say that it paid for itself already but that is not really accurate. The truth is, that year I spent reading actually pre-paid for the membership in the form of new knowledge, so my payment simply helped to even it all out...