I’ve added a couple of short but interesting scripts to github. They fetch and sort posts from an OSM mailing list from some time in the past. For example, here are the topics on the talk list at the height of the licence change furore:

listtopics.sh talk 2012 May

 35  OSM : It's a shame !!!
 24  Edit review: ele=0
 22  Worst of OSM
 21  TomTom is thumping us
 17  Import of buildings in Chicago
 17  Edit review: intermittent waters
 16  OSM cycle map - ?excessive focus on long-distance routes
 15  Edit review: "building"="levels=N"
 14  Cycleways and Access tags: Left, Right, Forward, Backward?
 10  OpenSeaMap
 10  Cycle lanes & cycle tracks - my findings and a proposal
  7  Changing capitalization (Lima)
  6  OWL down
  6  OSM data density - top regions
  6  Old versions of OSM?
  6  Copy-and-paste remapping
  5  TTTracklog and TomTom core 9.4
  4  OSMCoastline / OpenStreetMapData.com
  4  Mapnik rendering issue with *_link roads
  4  (dis)Honesty and Copyright

and here’s the tagging list today:

listtopics.sh tagging 2020 May

106  Reviving the path discussion - the increasing importance of trails in OSM
 75  Tag:amenity=motorcycle_taxi not approved
 58  Remove non-prefixed versions of 'contact:' scheme
 49  RFC ele:regional
 42  relations & paths
 35  Doorzone bicycle lanes
 34  Permanent ID/URI --- off topic email
 30  Feature Proposal - RFC - Recreational route relation roles
 26  Change of wiki page Key:access
 25  Adding values healthcare=dispensary and healthcare=community_care?
 24  track vs footway, cycleway, bridleway or path
 23  Is there any tagging scheme for carillons already?
 15  Meaning of "administrative" in boundary=administrative, in your country?
 14  With leisure=common deprecated, Senegal & Mali need a replacement
 14  [OSM-talk] Should we map things that do not exist?
 14  oneway=yes on motorways
 11  Section numbers in hiking routes
 11  Running but no hiking/walking
  9  Quality and the Openstreetmap value chain
  8  Fwd: Section numbers in hiking routes

looking at the names, some of these from 2007 are still familiar:

listpeople.sh talk 2007 May

 79 Frederik Ramm
 59 David Earl
 46 Nick Whitelegg
 33 Richard Fairhurst
 31 Christoph Eckert
 27 Jon Burgess
 26 Andy Robinson
 25 Martijn van Oosterhout
 21 Lester Caine
 18 SteveC
 18 Robert (Jamie) Munro
 17 Nick Black
 16 Joerg Ostertag (OSM Munich/Germany)
 15 Steve Chilton
 14 Francisco R. Santos
 14 David Groom
 14 Barnett, Phillip
 13 Hakan Tandogan
 12 Robert T Wyatt
 12 Matthias Julius