Subj : Re: Am I the only one dum
To   : Spectre
From : boraxman
Date : Tue Jul 12 2022 22:53:26

 Sp> Sorry Doc, this is really just a general reply... but being what it is, I
 Sp> can't reply and change who its going to. :)
 Sp> 
 Sp> Here in Melbourne, Australia, we had super high density of BBS'.  There
 Sp> were two really popular multiline boards followed by hundreds of others.
 Sp> Given the volume of systems, and their users we had meets fairly
 Sp> frequently, at one stage you virtually get yourself online and ask what
 Sp> was going on this weekend.
 Sp> 
 Sp> Locations varied wildly, from City Square, an open park area in the
 Sp> middle of the CBD.  Pool halls, Charltons.. also in the CBD... to open
 Sp> park areas in the suburbs, ice skating rinks, the Valhalla Cinema a low
 Sp> tech setup where initially you even had to take your own chairs and the
 Sp> whole way along you could get in free dressing up for the showing movie
 Sp> and act out parts in front of the screen. (Blues Brothers was terribly
 Sp> popular).  Even the odd ones at someones place, these varied wildly in
 Sp> size and facilities depending on the pockets of the parents.  Some were
 Sp> really basic, some were really up market.
 Sp> 
 Sp> By about 1993-4 pretty much every bbs had some kind of connect to the
 Sp> "internet" being usenet for the most part. And the whole thing collapsed
 Sp> not long after as commercial access really took off sealing the fate of
 Sp> local systems.  They just about disappeared overnight.
 Sp> 
 Sp> At this point, I couldn't count how many I attended, only that the more
 Sp> interesting ones stand out in mind.  I don't have a lot of regrets from
 Sp> the time, but I could probably had done with being a bit more mature at
 Sp> the time.
 Sp> 
 Sp> Spec

I lived in Melbourne at that time, but never went to a meet up, but then again I didn't start dialing into BBS's until early 1994, shortly before they started disappearing.

It is perhaps not too late for a meetup, I note there are quite a few Melbournians on fsxNet now.

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