I've been trying to stay out of this because, as a mere newbie of about 6 years, I never experienced ACF or C+ or any of that stuff. To me, this is just a corner of the internet that I was introduced to by some people on a bike ride[1] I heard about on uk.rec.cycling, and liked enough to hang around. I'm vaguely aware of some of the back-story, as a couple of people have been kind enough to clue me in over the years, but none of that affected me directly, so I reckon I can safely ignore it.
What I see from my position of mostly ignorance, is someone popping up at irregular intervals who's obviously liked and respected by a great many of the people here, elsewhere and no longer with us, whose judgement I tend to give weight to. I see wry humour, a love of photoshop and thinly veiled references to a pre-history a lot of people I consider friends would rather forget. I see a lot of flamboyant un-lurks but don't really see someone attempting to be an active part of this community.
I don't think *we* have any baggage, so I have no reason not to like you, but I'm still waiting to see a person to like. How about joining in discussing bikes, or rides, or CAKE, or gadgets, or wildlife, or UKIP, or 'Go Steve!' or something? If you're not here to do that, then - other than to provoke a reaction - I'm not sure why're you're here.
[1] FRNttC. You may have heard of it. We may even have met on one.