Subj : BBS History To : Patch From : Sam Alexander Date : Fri Sep 30 2005 04:14 pm Re: BBS History By: Patch to Queen on Fri Sep 30 2005 12:35 pm > Re: BBS History > By: Queen to Patch on Fri Sep 30 2005 01:24 am > > > 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 > > NEXT century, we will get DSL or Cable or Broadband..... In my dreams! > > That's been something that I'm trying to find a way, to change. There has t > be some folks out there that would enjoy getting back into BBS's especially > now since it's easier through Telnet to access them. No long distance phone > charges, no software download prior to connecting, there has to be a 'spin' > that would get people back into a BBS mindset. > > Ideas?! > > > > We used to have sysop meetings of all the sysops in the immediate area on > > month. It was great. We swapped ideas, software and generally had a bla > > There were IIRC about 23 BBSes involved. AHHHHH the good ol' days!!!! > > them. I met my very best friend thru his BBS in 1993. We still run our > > as partner boards. That's where I got my handle. I drew and ansi menu s > > for about 12 of the BBSs back then. They "christened" me the Ansi Screen > > The Queen name stuck after that. > > I used to run my own ANSI/Intro group when my BBS was up, called (and prolly > not incredibly popular, but ...) WeaponX ANSI. > > Would love to know if anyone still has any of our stuff in their archives. = > That would be a serious trip down memory lane. =) Hi Patch.. Something to ask is why did folks call BBSes to begin with? I think for many (namely most of us) it's the community, interaction, and hobby of working with computers. I think unfortunately this was probably a minority of the folks who called boards back then. Most either grabbed files, pr0n, warez, or did it for some other personal reason. These folks have moved on to the Internet for such things leaving the core users behind. Something else hendering the BBS movement is no mainstream support. I listen to Leo Laporte's various podcasts and shows, and I'd love for folks like him to talk about BBSes and how much they are alive, specially since he's a former BBS Sysop [http://bbslist.textfiles.com/415/oldschool.html - search for Laporte]. I also think many former BBSers just loved computers and went with whatever was mainstream at the time. It was BBSes in the 80's and early 90's and WWW and the Internet after that. How many older folks still drive old cars for the heck of it?? Some computer folks just want the latest and greatest without looking back. Like I've said before, using BBSes is like a car person driving a classic car. I'd suggest start dropping mentions of your BBSes in non BBS forums. Put your BBS tag on Newsgroup posts from your board. Call into tech shows and talk about your BBS or others. I mentioned my BBS on comp.os.linux.misc about 2 weeks ago and got like 10 folks create new accounts from that, and probably 8 of those 10 commented about not knowing there were even any BBSes still around. ANyway, that's my two cents... I think the BBS can come back, but it'll take some work. Sam --- "Data is not information, Information is not knowledge, Knowledge is not understanding, Understanding is not wisdom." -- Cliff Stoll --- þ Synchronet þ Life is Bunk BBS (Linux) in Waco, Tx -- lifeisbunk.homelinux.com .