When did bbs die? reddit / bbs ---------------------------------------------------------------------- nero1984 · 2014-04-22 02:29 I know there's still a few was just wondering when most of them went away, and why most ppl quit running them? Did everyone just instantly jump on net? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- worldsfastestweiner · 2014-04-22 02:46 People have slowly moved over to the internet but the BBS system is NOT dead. There is a bit of a problem where there are chiefs than indians. The majority of us with boners for the BBS system are also sysops. So the unicorns are the users who don't run their own BBS. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- derfherdez · 2014-04-22 07:49 The big commercial systems became ISP's. The "problem" with the internet is that BBS software really didn't make the web browser leap. The bbs software people were used to paying for stuff, but the internet crowd was used to getting things for free. And ultimately the free stuff won out, as it was "better". But yeah MS-DOS+multitasker+TCP-IP software vs *BSD or Linux.. then throw in httpd for free and you can see why we are where we are today. The larger question would be why didn't things like worldgroup server take off, why did wildcat miss the boat as well. Synchronet is where it is because it also went the free route. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- recourse9 · 2014-04-22 14:47 Reddit is a bbs. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sysop_2400 · 2014-04-22 15:00 It didn't! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- UnaClocker · 2014-04-22 17:13 Late 1996, by mid 1997 we'd gone from 30+ boards down to 4, and those 4 were the ones that had been abandoned by their sysops years earlier and were just on autopilot. At least here locally. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- youhavecouvades · 2014-04-22 19:01 By the end of the 1990's the BBS's were few and far between... can confirm their heyday being from like 1991 - 1997. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 9600bps · 2014-04-24 20:28 My experience was similar: larger BBSes with shell accounts started to offer SLIP connections and gradually transitioned into being ISPs. By 1995, Boardwatch magazine was subtitled "Guide to Electronic Bulletin Boards and The Internet." On some level, the boundary between "internet" and BBSing could get pretty fuzzy during the heydey of "information superhighway" rhetoric: it was all just "the net." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- derfherdez · 2014-04-25 02:01 And a lot of BBS software just couldn't make the leap to the internet. Pretend it's 1993, and you've got a BBs with 8 modems, 4 nodes, and a bunch of money wrapped up in doors. Now your friends dump this mosiac thing on you that is going to change the world. But what can you do with your existing investment? This is the thing that basically killed off BBSes is that they couldn't make the leap from dialup to internet. At the time I lived in South East Florida (Ft Lauderdale) and there was a big BBS scene. Then this ISP opened up, sefl.satelnet.org. for $20 a month you could get 'unlimited' dialup, and access the world. There was some SGI we could telnet into that had mud's local news and stuff, but it was dwindlying quickly (it had a look/feel like [sdf.org](http://sdf.org/). ) And that was it, getting time on BBSes went from dialer scripts running all the time with constant busy signal to being able to dialup whenever you wanted to suddenly the tone of disconnected phone lines. I still remember getting on CCUG and finding that they had a CD-ROM with an early version of [SLS Linux](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softlanding_Linux_System) that even was enough for me to spend a few weeks downloading at 2400 baud to replace DOS/Windows and go 100% Linux on my 386sx16. It really was the perfect storm of 32bit home computers becoming popular, free OS'es (Linux/*BSD) and this open network that could get you global access for $20 to a local ISP. I know wildcat had their internet aware Windows based BBS, but it seemed too little/late back then. I remember the small businesses that wanted to jump on the internet in 1994 were far more interested in Emwac & winproxy to get their business a webpage, and setup email. Another thing is that the BBS & doors were well stuck in MS-DOS world. By 1993 we had DOOM. And really that was *THE* game to get connected and running. everything else just fell by the wayside. Apparently [SIO of OS/2 fame had vmodem](http://artscene.textfiles.com/ansi/unsorted/vmodem.txt) in 1994. It's a shame I didn't know but then again IBM's moronic sensibility didn't mean that OS/2 Warp would have LAN drivers. And by this time everyone I knew was either booting MS-DOS for games, Windows NT for work and doing some Unix thing (SUN did have Solaris 2.6 for the x86 which was popular for some unknown reason) for school/work. So with all that said, another reason the internet killed BBS'es is that nobody was offering a good solution to transition. And the heart of that would be IBM's failing to see a networked world and having the odasity to charge not only for TCP/IP but SDK's and C compilers. So we were really left with OS/2 falling behind, and quick, and Windows NT 3.5 having a good TCP/IP stack with both PPP & SLIP. And just look at the sad state that is [/r/os2](http://reddit.com/r/os2). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- autowikibot · 2014-04-25 02:01 ##### ###### #### [**Softlanding Linux System**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softlanding%20Linux%20System): [](#sfw) --- > >__Softlanding Linux System__ (__SLS__) was an early [Linux distribution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_distribution) founded by [Peter MacDonald](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_MacDo nald_(computer_programmer\)) in May, 1992. >SLS was the first release to offer a comprehensive [Linux](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux) distribution containing more than the [Linux kernel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_kernel) and basic utilities, including [TCP/IP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TCP/IP) and the [X Window System](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System). >==== >[**Image**](https://i.imgur.com/1cL1Oe6.png) [^(i)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sls-linux_1.05.png) - *Softlanding Linux System* --- ^Interesting: [^Slackware](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slackware) ^| [^Linux ^distribution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_distribution) ^| [^Debian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debian) ^| [^Peter ^MacDonald ^\(computer ^programmer)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_MacDonal d_\(computer_programmer\)) ^Parent ^commenter ^can [^toggle ^NSFW](http://www.np.reddit.com/messa ge/compose?to=autowikibot&subject=AutoWikibot NSFW toggle&message=%2Btoggle-nsfw+ch1dloz) ^or[](#or) [^delete](http://www .np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=autowikibot&subject=AutoWikibot Deletion&message=%2Bdelete+ch1dloz)^. ^Will ^also ^delete ^on ^comment ^score ^of ^-1 ^or ^less. ^| [^(FAQs)](http://www.np.reddit.com/r/autowikibot/wiki/index) ^| [^Mods ](http://www.np.reddit.com/r/autowikibot/comments/1x013o/for_moderator s_switches_commands_and_css/) ^| [^Magic ^Words](http://www.np.reddit. com/r/autowikibot/comments/1ux484/ask_wikibot/) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 9600bps · 2014-04-25 22:50 > And a lot of BBS software just couldn't make the leap to the internet. Pretend it's 1993, and you've got a BBs with 8 modems, 4 nodes, and a bunch of money wrapped up in doors. Now your friends dump this mosiac thing on you that is going to change the world. But what can you do with your existing investment? Really good point. I noticed a lot of BBSes with SLIP changed their names and attempted to distance themselves from their BBS identity. Two local users would be essentially be dialing into the same modem bank but one would think they were connecting to Ye Olde BBS and the other believed they were connecting to SuperMatrix ISP. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- sharphead_cgy · 2014-04-28 03:21 Actually... I would say Reddit is a forum. a BBS back in the day was way more than just discussion topics and comments, it encompassed literally everything you wanted to do with a computer. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- recourse9 · 2014-04-28 05:04 OK. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- goretsky · 2014-05-05 08:47 Hello, I would pick 1995, with the release of Windows 95 including a built-in TCP/IP stack. With that, consumers' tastes shifted from BBSes to the web. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Beef_Blastbody · 2014-05-27 12:52 December 14th, 1999. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Beef_Blastbody · 2014-05-27 12:56 1996 was a good year, man. The Pit with like 50 active players, everyone racing to get on *right* at midnight when all the players were resurrected. 4 player Doom2 on Dwango5 Map 01. LORD with at least two other players on to meet in the fields for a fight. The fondest of memories for me. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Beef_Blastbody · 2014-05-27 12:57 Boards in the Northern VA/DC/Maryland area were still going strong in 95. I guess we didn't get the memo. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- goretsky · 2014-05-28 01:46 Hello, Yes, but was 1995 (or even early '96) the peak of usage, both in terms of actual hours online and new user registrations? I am sure that some BBSes that made the transition to ISPs did continue to see the latter, especially on the new user signups side, but I still think that time marks the beginning of the end. Remember, Windows 95 was the first operating system targeted at consumers that included a TCP/IP networking stack out of the box, for free, and that was part of Microsoft's strategy for making Windows the onramp to the Internet. Signups for AOL, MSN, etc., surged as a result, and the phone numbers their modems dialed went from a handful of BBSes to their ISPs phone lines. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Beef_Blastbody · 2014-05-28 03:04 I wouldn't think so. Keep in mind I'm no authority on the subject but were I a betting man I'd wager that by 95-96 new user registrations were dropping off drastically. Probably to the point that most SysOps began closing up shop. Like you said MS made the internet very accessible to anyone who had the desire to access it. I imagine that most folks made the switch to the internet and the die hards still called their favorite boards. To answer your question though, by 95-96 BBS's were losing a lion's share of their user base to the services you mentioned. Boards that I called nightly will always hold a place in my heart as they were my primary source of entertainment for such a long time, but if we're being honest they really couldn't compete with what the world wide web could offer. A file section with a couple hundred megs of files, a message board with 100 active .users, and a slew of door games were just too far outmatched by the worldwide accessibility the internet provided. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mrnukem · 2014-08-12 17:25 It was mid 1990's and was a fast decline. I would say over the course of 12 months the smaller bbs became obsolete, a lot of the larger bbs systems made the switch to become an ISP and the bbs side of their businesses died off.