Long story short : I started working in Machine learning 3 years ago and got really concerned by privacy related to big data. Then, I read 1984. The week after, /e/os was installed on my phone.
I have now proudly installed it on the phone of a dozen of friends 
So, I’ve been modding my handsets for years, trying to straddle the line of “having an Android phone” and “having control of an Android phone” since the 4.0 days. For some time, this was done with modded ROMs and XPrivacy/XPrivacy Lua. In theory, it was a great solution, and for the time it was, but as those programs became less actively maintained, it was worth the time to start exploring alternatives.
Pure AOSP ROMs were a bit too sparse for my liking. I did run LineageOS for a while with “only” the Play Store, but even that felt like “too Googled for privacy, not enough Googled for convenience”.
I think someone in a Slashdot thread mentioned /e/OS; it could have been an XDA thread as well - I don’t remember specifically. While Graphene and Calyx are purely privacy focused (and respectable projects in their own right), what drew me to /e/OS were two things:
The time spent on the ecosystem, not just the ROM. Other projects focus on the phone, and leave it to the users to figure out the e-mail/calendar/contacts/storage elements. Apple has iCloud and Google has…G-Suite, I guess? but the privacy ROMs left users to figure out how and where to store their data. /e/OS was the first one to address that need and fill it.
…and it’s (mostly) possible to self-host that solution in addition to the presence of a cloudy version. As most of us are aware, “there is no cloud…there’s only someone else’s computer”. Murena not only provides the sort of service Apple and Google provide to their end users, they do so at reasonable prices and with a far better privacy policy, but i’m unaware of any other mobile device OS that provides that much flexibility.
When that combination was seen, and it was possible to do it all on the phone I already had…it was a no brainer to switch.
Hello everyone, in my search for an alternative operating system for a cell phone, I finally ended up here.
Great work you are doing here.
Greetings Thomas
Long years ago i flashed an old HTC with cyanogen because i needed to try Android 2…
Later i got the Oneplus One and i tryed to flash the official Cyanogen Mod partnership with Oneplus. Next i tryed LineageOS too, normal for who that know.
My curiosity let me found a list on wikipedia, about alternative rom for smartphone. Like this i founded e/OS project.
I tryed it on my Oneplus 3, since i’m using e/OS/.
I’m specialized on Oneplus phone and i flashed every models, actualy i got the Oneplus9 and it work well very well and i convert people around me about that OS for data privacy.
I’ve been using Linux for over 30 years and about 10 years ago started to get into custom Roms. I had a regular android phone as my daily driver and a second one as a ‘test subject’ to install and try custom Roms.
Back then I would mostly work with xiaomi’s MI OS but I pretty much tried every compatible rom out there.
Around 5 years ago after trying cyanogedmod and lineage os I first heard of /e/OS. A Google free Android OS.
Long story short: I was hooked and haven’t looked back. Now I’m the main Spanish translator for this project 
been a long time follower of Brax, and decided to try it when I saw him mentioning about it.
Same 
Been following him for quite some time.
And I’ve been on other custom roms though started having a particular interest in /e/ as well as they seem to know the real meaning of “privacy” and microG in it by default being configured properly.
So I decided to give it a try and see. So far I’m liking it overall.
For a long time I wanted to add to this thread but I can’t for the life of me remember how I found out about /e/ (eelo). Maybe a mention on XDA but not sure.
Been using microG on various ROMs for years, even on KitKat (Mahdi). /e/ is probably the first actual deGoogled ROM I tried.
Started with version 0.1 (Nougat) on a ZTE Axon 7 multibooting with other ROMs, via Dual Boot Patcher. Phone is still around but battery problems caused it to be retired (too lazy to replace even though I bought batteries and tools). Sealed cases. Ugh.
Put /e/OS Nougat on an Essential PH-1. Moved to Pie and then stopped with 1.8.1-q. Various bits and pieces manually updated though.
Teracube 2e emerald has 1.14-r.