Re: Hello all!
By: xnite to All on Thu Dec 18 2014 10:08:48
Hi, I have never used a BBS before, thought they were kinda dead with the whole... oh idk invention of newer better things and all (irc, forums, other more modern forms of internet communication).
Things very much like IRC and forums, etc. existed on BBSes before they existed on the internet. They were just in a different form of access. Instead of IRC, there was multi-line chat on BBSes that had more than one phone line; instead of internet message forums, there were message forums on BBSes, which are pretty much the same thing.
I'm doing some research about BBS's and a sort of history of online communications in general and would love to hear what the ... still active ... BBS communities have to say about where things are now, and where things are headed in the future.
I also thought BBSes were dead, in 2000 when I took my original BBS down, but then in 2007 I discovered "BBS: The Documentary" (
http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/) and was inspired to look into telnet-based BBSes. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that there were still BBSes running via the internet. I decided to start my current BBS and have been enjoying running it.
There are much fewer BBSes these days than there used to be in the 80s and 90s though, and most BBSes aren't as busy as BBSes used to be. For instance, sometimes a few days will go by with no message posts on Dove-Net. However, there are BBSes that do get callers every day, and people still like playing the popular door games (such as Legend of the Red Dragon, Tradewars 2002, Land of Devastation, and others).
There are still BBS software packages being actively developed (Synchronet, Mystic, and Enthral are a few I can think of), as well as BBS-compatible terminal software (such as SyncTerm, NetRunner, and mTelnet). There are sysops who enjoy developing BBS mods. I can't say the BBS community as a whole is as active as it used to be, but some things are happening.
Nightfox
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