I have also been a long time member both on TE and E and enjoyed TE more because of its rich repository of technical discussions/suggestions. I made my own PC way back in 2009 (was using a separate ID then but could not recover that when the forum got upgraded as the password was linked to my email with BSNL-sancharnet.in which I could not access and so had to make a new ID) with suggestions received from TE. I remember that there used to be a thread with the latest prices of different PC peripherals from all over India. I got habituated to visiting that thread at least once everyday. There also used to be a dealers thread where they would post prices of all hardware they were selling. It was from there that I got to know about Rahul (itwares) and Amarbir (Lynx Chandigarh). Bought a lot of things from them, My first ever Android, a Moto Razr, was bought on the suggestions received from TE and it was here that I sold it too!!! Bought many hardware from both Rahul and Amarbir but Amarbir had some really cool innovative products that were not be found anywhere else. Along came Katmandude whose real name was Sreejith from whom I bought many things. Was in contact with him till 2016 when I got a Galaxy S7 Active through him. Last I heard he was in Mumbai, but I have lost contact with him.
But to be frank, the section of TE that I have enjoyed most apart from the technical ones is the 'show off' section. I visit it pretty frequently just to get greedy for a new piece of tech
Sad that Erodov has shut down but the resources of this forum far outweigh that of Erodov