I've been around for 3-4 years. If you click on the user name, you will see when someone joined the Forum. They joined FC before that - but the difference in time is usually modest. In addition, you can tell whether someone is an avid Forum poster by the number of stars under their name.
I generally just do the daily stuff (daily surveys, daily $.15 click, daily emails and daily videos when avialable in the other daily tasks. Also check out the contests and promotions in the Forum and, of course, do my daily fix of posting in the Forum to help out newbies and work towards the Forum posting bonus.
Let's me cash out every 3-4 months. Not a lot, but pretty good considering the amount of effort required.
If you want more, you'll need to try out the offers or bring in referrals and help them to click and earn money on their own.
Read thru the Beginner's Guide (one of 2 top entries in the Support section). Will answer a lot of questions -- or just skim thru the Forum entries or start your own thread. Lots of folks here to help you out.
Welcome aboard!