Hi there! You can count me as one of the old guard, second generation, to be exact. I'm back after another long and semi-unplanned absence, and was looking for a good place to make my entrance, lol.
On TA: Don't quote me on this, (not literally), but I also recall an incident shortly after he disappeared, where either Kevin or Ed mentioned that they had actually made contact with him, and he specifically asked people not to mention him again. Yeah, like us all forgetting about him was gonna happen... As for his purpose in joining, well at least that one's easy. In fact you answered that question yourself in the beginning of the story. Maybe he wasn't aware of it himself, and yes, this is the spiritual, Mokeyesque side of me speaking, but I believe his purpose was in fact to bring us out of our shells, make us more comfortable around each other, and generally get things moving around here. I joined in 2005, the year he was here, and I think it took me a year to reach 100 posts. I was so very shy and unsure of myself, and I'm sure the main reason I even made that much of a head start was because of him.