This has been very interesting! Closest I can do is give a short account of how NR came to be.
Once upon a time, during a high school bus trip in the summer of 1998, I saw the movie "Hackers." It inspired me to learn some programming, so I randomly picked HTML not knowing it's just a markup language. I learned enough in the first month to start a website containing a multi-part essay about various fringe topics. The essay was a rewritten version of a conspiracy document I had typed up and disseminated the year before. In 2001 after getting fed up with the banner ads at Angelfire, I set up montalk.net using the dark forest look and that annoying UFO that blew up when hovered over.
Fast forward to late 2003... had just left the Cass group, realized there was still hope for starting things anew, and noticed my guestbook was getting too busy. Two people independently suggested I start a message board, and so it began on YahooGroups... the linear format of Yahoo was so constrictive it felt too awkward to post...upon recommendation we quickly switched to PunBB.
For the benefit of casual readers, and as a matter of faith, I decided to make this forum open to read, open to join. We started with 15 members... now we have 900 registered and things are still stable enough to accommodate all types of discussions. The goal has always been to keep this place a casual and orderly "discussion in the park" sort of place that would provide room for synchronistic growth to take care of the rest. Thanks to everyone who has constructively participated, it has done well 
Acquiring fringe knowledge is like digging for diamonds in a mine field.