Subj : BBS History
To   : Queen
From : Sam Alexander
Date : Fri Sep 30 2005 10:34 am

  Re: BBS History
  By: Queen to Patch on Fri Sep 30 2005 01:24 am

 >   Re: BBS History
 >   By: Patch to Queen on Wed Sep 28 2005 01:08 pm
 > 
 >  > BBS Community was always unique from anything the internet can give you, 
 >  > could only wish that more people would, could see that though.  Only then
 >  > will we see an increase in usage.
 >  >
 >  > But I'm back in it for the long haul, as much as possible. =)
 > 
 > Yea, me too.  I bitch cuz my user base is barely higher than zero.  I'll
 > give is some more time.  I've been running 24/7 on a dial-up ISP.  I'm
 > surprised they let me do it.   I believe it's because the competition is
 > starting to reach our "Hootersville" area.  Hopefully before the turn of the
 > NEXT century, we will get DSL or Cable or Broadband.....  In my dreams!
 > 
 > We used to have sysop meetings of all the sysops in the immediate area once 
 > month.  It was great.  We swapped ideas, software and generally had a blast.
 > There were IIRC about 23 BBSes involved.  AHHHHH  the good ol' days!!!!  I m
 > them.  I met my very best friend thru his BBS in 1993.  We still run our BBS
 > as partner boards.  That's where I got my handle.  I drew and ansi menu scre
 > for about 12 of the BBSs back then. They "christened" me the Ansi Screen Que
 > The Queen name stuck after that.
 > 
 
I can literally trace every huge event of my life back to my time on the 
BBSes, and really back to one magazine.  Read below:

July 1989 - My mom brings me a copy of Austin's Computer Connection 
magazine, a free computer circular about computers and such (has Steve Jobs 
showing NeXT system on cover).  It had a list of BBSes in my area, so this 
sparked the curiosity to see what they were about.

December 1989 - Folks got me my first modem for my TRS-80 Coco 2 and starte 
calling BBSes in the Computer Connection magazine

January 1990 - Met Chris, a fellow Coco user who lived one town over and was 
my age.  We're still best friends to this day.  through him and his 
connections I started learning everything I could about comptuers, BBSes, 
and networks.  He knew some of the larger board's sysops and I started going 
to meet-ups with him.  THis is what really got my life in computers going.

July 1995 - Through Chris I met Debbie (his girlfriend at the time) and she 
got me a job that allowed me to work around my crazy school schedule.  IF 
not for this job, I'm not sure when I'd have gotten into school.  

Jan 1996 - Debbie introduced me to a girl who would eventually become my 
fiancee and soon wife (in 3 weeks).  

So though I'm sure I'd have gotten into BBSes and chose computers as a 
career anyway, through that one magazine given to me in July 1989 and the 
BBSes, my life was greatly complimented.  I'd not have the best friend I 
have now nor the love of my life, and quite possibly my career in computers 
and education.  

Crazy, huh?  All thanks to BBSes :)

Sam



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"Data is not information, Information is not knowledge, Knowledge is not
understanding, Understanding is not wisdom." -- Cliff Stoll
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