Same, I started lurking on the subreddit in like 2016/17 and then the forum like 2018 and then joined in 2018. Hitman is like the only gaming community that seemed welcoming/interesting enough that I wanted to join
The only other game series I really care about as deeply is Dark Souls and I’ve never really had an inclination to join any of those communities
I think I got roped in looking for tech support help with Hitman 2 (the original) but I lurked for a while before I ever thought to post anything. I seem to remember there was a big debate over whether ampburner was a girl. He and tetrakarbon were the only mods, I think, and sersun was the admin/started the site. He never spent a whole lot of time here that I remember, but he got too busy with his business eventually and passed the forum on to ampburner and I. I got busy myself and dropped off the map, and the rest, as they say, is history.