Before January 2008, the only knowledge I had of the Mario Wiki is that it was a site that Porplemontage owned apart from his own site. (Also, that he and Porple Studios contributor Zach had joked about it in a podcast.) At the time Porplemontage Studios also had an IRC channel, and I was usually the only one on it.
One day, three people came to visit while I was idling, including wiki veterans Jorge and Uniju. Jorge later came back and advertised the wiki channel. And from there, well, the rest is history.
<Jorge> umm guys
<Jorge> this is someone from somewhere else
<Jorge> :)
<Neurario> DUN DUN DUUUUUUN
<Neurario> ah well
<Neurario> Hey
<Jorge> He's a visitor from another dimension!
I loved socialising with the many people of the Mario Wiki's IRC channel, and eventually got into contributing to the wiki. Before long I also got involved in the “Fanstuff Wiki” equivalent, Userpedia.
I don't regret anything about being a wiki contributor at both sites. Well, except my episode. (Oldbies, you know what I mean.) And perhaps devoting so much time to it that I fell behind in school. :-)
Still, I've met so many great people as a result of coming to the site, many that I would consider friends. And I'm happy that I've been able to do my part for the community, as a former patroller and Chat Operator for the Mario Wiki, and managing the FTP side of Userpedia.
In a way, the event of this 50th Shroom issue makes me confident for the community surrounding the Mario Wiki, that there will be many more opportunities to help out and bring users together.