Hi, there!
So, a friend of mine has decided to come back after a long leave of absence, and he says he remembers being a Founding member, but he's not sure how to tell.. Is there some surefire way to tell if he is in fact a founder memeber?
When he logs into MyAccount it should have a Founder token. The Founder token is not something that is permanent to an account. It is very easy to lose. In order to be a Founder today, you had to continuously pay your subscription fees without a break. The majority of the remaining Founders are folks that took the intial Life Time Account offer.
There is no benefit to being a Founder any more. All the special perks were discontinued. The only possible exception is the slow Founder horse, which I believe every one can buy in game with silver as soon as their character completes the starter experience and enters the full world.
Unless stated otherwise, all content in this post is My Personal Opinion.