Social BBS ? reddit / bbs ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Eliwynn · 2018-02-15 12:17 Hi all ! Pretty new to the BBS world and I've been running from board to board to check it out and I'm pretty hyped. I was too young at the time to even know about it. The majority of BBSes I've seen seem to be about doorgames only so here's the question : Are there still social bbs available ? Messages board, meeting new people interested by old things (like bbs :p), etc. Basically forums, but on bbs. Thanks for your time (and for the english mistakes I could've made) ! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- sardaukar_siet · 2018-02-15 13:36 BBSs are gone. You might have a few with some active users, but they're usually older users with all the problems that entails *cough* conservatives *cough*. Just accept they're mostly for door games and live with the fact that their time has come and gone. Same reason new books don't come in papyrus anymore :) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MyNameIsGarlic · 2018-02-15 14:06 theres a telnet bbs guide(i think googling those 3 words in that order will give you a link) and im sure you can find an active social bbs there somewhere. i know theres one dedicated to rasp pi stuff that just got put up a bit ago. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Eliwynn · 2018-02-15 14:13 Already been on bbs lists but they don't show how active they are. It's complicated to create an account on 400+ BBS to see ahah but thanks ! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MyNameIsGarlic · 2018-02-15 14:14 we're already wasting our time anon, why not waste it looking for friends? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Eliwynn · 2018-02-15 14:14 Why are vinyls selling well again ? :p But okay, thanks for your advice :( ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Eliwynn · 2018-02-15 14:17 You got a point. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- kd5njr · 2018-02-15 15:05 try the bboard program on tty.sdf.org ... see www.sdf.org for deets. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SqualorTrawler · 2018-02-15 17:30 What I have found, as an old-timer, is I kind of don't like BBSes for social conversations. A lot of boards particularly concerned with the retro aspect will fill half the screen with overblown ANSI headers - the effect being a tiny window in which to read text. Most boards do not thread as well as clearly as something like reddit does with indentations and the like. Entire swaths of BBS messaging networks are dominated by a few, erm, strong personalities who post in such a way that discourages others from entering the conversation. i just don't have the energy to be in a constant heated argument. Some of the friendly boards I've come across are ones which: * Are not networked. * Are running on very old hardware. * Are filled with retrocomputing enthusiasts. Politics on BBSes, as anywhere, lead to complete dysfunction. Unfortunately on BBSes dominated by political conversation, there is a particularly claustrophobic kind of dysfunction which has kept me away. Although in fairness I just closed down my Twitter account and may well soon do that for reddit. It's just not fun anymore. Even when I try to avoid politics, someone brings it up in an inappropriate place. It just makes people hate each other. As for these retrocomputing boards, you might try some of these: http://cbbsoutpost.servebbs.com/ There is an old Apple 2 system running GBBS Pro where folks seemed kinda nice; I can recommend this one. By the way, this is *super old school.* You want to really get down on into the 1986 BBS experience, this is it. I can say this was some experience because the first board I was ever a regular on at that time ran the same software. It is a trip seeing the software operate today via telnet. I feel 14 all over again: https://www.telnetbbsguide.com/bbs/a-80s-apple-ii-bbs/ The very gentlemanly and brilliant Gene Buckle runs the same sort of software: https://www.telnetbbsguide.com/bbs/age-of-reason-bbs/ My advice is to dig a bit. I have actually considered setting up my own board and trying to make it message-centric, except most reports from other sysops is that callers are rare and hard to come by, and every time I run any kind of online community, I wind up with one faction calling for the banning of the other faction and threatening to quit/leave unless I do. I'm about sick of being in that position. I do encourage you to explore - it may well be that there are some really decent boards out there but it's a challenge. Nostalgia is, I have always thought, a sort of weak-sauce emotion. I feel it, but, it's distortion for one - we confuse who we were and how we felt with the thing we're being nostalgic about, and two, it has its limits. I think one of the things that has upset me a little bit over time is I understand that time is gone, but nothing I can find on the Internet has replaced it. The nature of online communities has changed, and with all of the benefits sprawling global communities like reddit bring, one thing that fades away is a sense of belonging to a group. Because of long distance calling charges, boards tended to be more local, and you had a sort of common sense of the world because of this, and you might even wind up meeting a lot of these people in real life, especially in school or college. I wound up meeting a lot of my own users (that CBBS outpost site lists boards running Image v1.2a, which is what I used to run) at University years later when we'd all grown up a bit. I am so much more interested in building warm, tight-knit online communities than I am just running the old software and hardware, but I have no idea how to do it. I am also unpleasantly aware that I am now middle aged, and BBSing was a hobby I had when I was an adolescent. I'm just not the same person anymore. And the world has changed. Technology has advanced dramatically (mind-bogglingly), but I think people as a whole have grown more hostile, less tolerant, and more hateful. I've tried to make sure my impression isn't just pessimism that comes with age, and I've tried to be objective about the nastiness that existed on BBS communities even back in the 80s and 90s (many users were nasty adolescents, but good boards often had older users who caused the adolescents to find their better selves - there's probably a whole study in there of these age-disparate communities). I really do think even accounting for all of that, people have become a lot worse. What a privilege it seemed to be able to communicate digitally back then. People take it for granted and just trash the place now. Whatever you do, be the change you want to see. Start conversations. Be nice. Maybe you bring some quieter users out of the woodwork. I should recommend /r/retrobattlestations - the moderator over there - /u/FozzTexx - puts a lot of work into making a real community out of the subreddit. You might find it interesting. In a way, it is probably the closest thing to a BBS community I've seen on reddit. If there is one thing to learn from that, maybe it takes an engaged personality to make it all happen. Lots of pretty pictures of sexy old computer equipment. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FozzTexx · 2018-02-15 17:53 > I should recommend /r/retrobattlestations. In a way, it is probably the closest thing to a BBS community I've seen on reddit. Don't forget that /r/RetroBattlesations also [has its own official BBS](http://bbs.retrobattlestations.com)! And this coming week will be BBS week, a contest to get your old retro computer "on the line" and dialed into the BBS. There will be glory, fame, and prizes! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- jhavard · 2018-02-15 23:16 Back when I started Retrograde, I tried to bring back more than just doors, but the only thing that happened in the message bases were requests for more doors. Doesn't help when 100% of everyone there wants to relive the glory days of TW or LoRD for a few days or weeks until the wave of nostalgia recedes. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- danav · 2018-02-15 23:44 I would suggest you look into SDF here -- http://sdf.lonestar.org. It's a fun place. Very active. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- JohnPolka · 2018-02-16 00:19 I appreciate your comments with regard to message posting on BBSs today. I regularly connect to 10 BBSs. The message bases are not as active as they were in the 80s and 90s, but that's why I can keep up with the message threads on 10 BBSs today. :) So, there's that advantage. Plus there's little or no trolling which is nice. And when trolling does occur, it's usually squashed by the SysOp pretty quickly. The other observation that I've made with BBSing today is that there may be more BBSs than regular users. At least it feels that way. I've heard some SysOps say that we need more users and less BBSs. I agree that we need more users. But rather than less BBSs, we could use more SysOps that also regularly "call" other BBSs. :) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [deleted] · 2018-02-16 03:19 [deleted] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- r0ck0 · 2018-02-16 03:21 I think antique guns are a good very-obvious analogy. Fun to own and look back on, nostalgia etc. But not good for practical/convenient use. Vinyls are similar. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NuSkooler · 2018-02-16 03:36 Some interesting responses here. I talk with people daily with people on fsxNet, which you can find on quite a few boards. It's quite active. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Eliwynn · 2018-02-16 11:04 Thanks for your comment mate. That helped a lot "restoring" the context in my head. And a lot of good infos as well ! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Eliwynn · 2018-02-16 11:04 I've just validated my account :D ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Eliwynn · 2018-02-16 11:04 Thanks a lot for all of your answers (: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mro_1337 · 2018-02-18 04:17 i remember when "conservative" was an insult; now it's a compliment. i'm neither liberal nor conservative but i do appreciate other people's ideas and conversation. sadly, when someone identifies as the 'enemy', the other guy cant get past that and it all goes to shit. i'm 40, does that make me an 'older user'? i dont feel or look old. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mro_1337 · 2018-02-18 04:19 they arent active. bbsing has been in a slump ;[ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- sardaukar_siet · 2018-02-18 08:17 I value conversation as well, but realistically you're not going to have a productive one with "older users" set in their ways. And I mention conservatives as a problem for BBSs since I've had more than one nasty fight about the confederate flag, or gun rights or immigration on boards that are just full of Fox News watchers that think there's a Jewish conspiracy to take over the world. When I used to visit boards in the early 90s there were nuts too, but they were a minority and would come around to reason eventually. Now, it's far worse. I guess that's why people focus on door games. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- sardaukar_siet · 2018-02-18 08:20 http://imgc-cn.artprintimages.com/images/P-473-488- 90/89/8937/49AR300Z/posters/alex-gregory-the-two-things-that-really- drew-me-to-vinyl-were-the-expense-and-the-inco-new-yorker-cartoon.jpg :) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- AutoModerator · 2018-02-18 08:20 This comment was auto-moderated since it was just a link with no text. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/bbs) if you have any questions or concerns.* ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mro_1337 · 2018-02-19 03:59 once you get to be one of us 'older' guys you will see that the more things change, the more they stay the same. everything is the same, it only looks different to you because you havent seen as much as the older guys. there IS wisdom in old age. You mentioned conservatives, but any political fanatic is a problem. there's some whacked out liberals. my girlfriend is a political fanatic. she has CNN blasting all day long. she knows jack shit about politics or how anything works in the govt and wont bother to learn it but if CNN tells her something she believes it as the one truth. she got people so pissed off on facebook they looked her up and they sent her shit in the mail and had 6 police at our door. one thing you should do is look for the good in people and see what brings us together instead of what divides us. the media and our last president was intent on division so i know it's hard. divide and conquer, keep the people fighting among themselves so they dont see they are all wearing chains. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- sardaukar_siet · 2018-02-19 07:19 Yes, all kind of fanaticism is bad. But for some reason I don't see left wing fanatics trying to force their healthcare and education on everyone as much. Regardless, it's a problem that I don't see getting fixed anytime soon. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- m1ch43lnl · 2018-02-20 18:32 I just opened a BBS about 2 years ago. I 'm connected to multiple FTN networks like Fidonet, Agoranet and FSXnet. I am to run a BBS that is both social and suitable for door games :) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Eliwynn · 2018-02-20 18:33 You could give me the address in PM :D ---------------------------------------------------------------------- z80org · 2018-02-23 12:39 Well. My BBS has about 130 registered users and about half of them login regularly. I have no files, no door games, only discussion forums. Mind you, it's all in Swedish and running a command based BBS system known in Sweden as KOM. My point is that it can be done if you invest your own time in it and find a niche that people like. The "build it and they will come" model does not apply to BBS:es anymore. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mro_1337 · 2018-02-24 18:18 liberals not forcing their healthcare and education? are you joking ---------------------------------------------------------------------- grandrelda · 2018-03-07 20:26 Please, can you give me the address? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- coinstacks · 2018-03-09 12:24 Right now, the largest social forum in Taiwan is a BBS. Although most users are accessing through web version (http). telnet://ptt.cc ---------------------------------------------------------------------- m1ch43lnl · 2018-03-10 18:56 Hi, The BBS is called AlcBBS and can be reached by telnet on bbs.alcatrash.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [deleted] · 2018-03-25 16:34 > with all the problems that entails cough conservatives cough If you're predisposed to hate people for their opinions, it's not surprising that you don't enjoy engaging them. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- sardaukar_siet · 2018-03-26 23:27 I don't hate them, I said they're problematic. I think your comment shows in what way, partly. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [deleted] · 2018-03-27 03:10 I don't get this idea of another person having different views from mine being a problem. Do you mean inconvenient, as in you don't want to be bothered with debating them or whatever? What I find annoying, but don't necessarily think rises to the level of being a problem per se, is how some people insist on turning every completely non-political thread on the Internet into a political discussion. For example, dropping snarky comments about a politician or group they don't like from out of the blue. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- sardaukar_siet · 2018-03-27 07:35 I judge people and groups by their actions. If you honestly don't think conservatives have shown, as a group, that they have issues then I don't know what to tell you. That's beside the debate about how societies must keep up with the times, and how conservatives effectively delay that because "values", books written 1400 years ago or something else that is relevant mostly to them instead of considering the common good. And you're right - I made it political. In this day and age with everything that is going on, I don't want to bury my head in the sand. One of the most active echoes on Fidonet these days is even called "2nd Amendment". ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [deleted] · 2018-03-27 19:47 Discussing BBSes on a BBS-related subreddit isn't "burying your head in the sand." There's a time and place for everything. It doesn't have to be All Politics Twenty-Four Hours a Day. Most people have other interests, and occasionally want to take a break from the non-stop political harping, virtue signalling, and (let's face it) snarky douchebag trolling.Thank you for reminding me why I've deleted every single social media account I've ever registered. Goodbye. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- sardaukar_siet · 2018-03-27 20:45 I was replying to your comment that inquired if I'm "predisposed to hate people for their opinions" and making my intentions clear. And you continued down that line of inquiry. Three comments down (let's face it) you somehow complain about social networks being political? Goodbye indeed, good sir. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- gstandard00 · 2018-05-01 00:47 Thats crazy good!