I looked for the forum about four days into playing, which was during the Halloween 2013 event. I joined late in the event, and I knew I would need friends in order to catch up on the prizes so - ta dah! Here I am.
My advice to the new forum posters/lurkers: join the conversation, even if only a little. I quickly added 100 friends from the Add Me thread, and honestly they were pretty hit and miss. Once I started posting on threads however, I started to get neighbor requests from forum regulars. They've been really great neighbors to have -- much better than the "Add Me" neighbors.
Welcome to the party, and have fun! :wink: