Yep, before it was a choice between watching Star Wars in acceptable modern quality on DVD or Blu-ray, or digging out my old VHS tapes. (I wasn’t even aware of the GOUT.) So I would bite the bullet and watch the SE. But in truth for a long time, thanks to my disillusionment with the SE and the prequels, I basically stopped being a Star Wars fan. I wasn’t happy about it, and it wasn’t even something I consciously did, my enthusiasm for the series just kind of faded away. I hadn’t seen the movies in years until TFA and my discovery of this site re-ignited it. The Despecialized Editions were one hell of a treat.
After TFA I pretty much gave up on calling myself a “fan”. I like the first three movies. As a franchise I don’t care.
I have never thought of myself a fan or not a fan of any particular franchise. I like certain movies and others I don’t. For example, I probably like about half of the Star Trek movies, doesn’t matter to me which ones (i.e. in what order).