Chicago Area Commodore BBSs gave me my start reddit / bbs ---------------------------------------------------------------------- wrongway · 2020-08-01 12:39 Back in the 80s and early 90s there was an abundance of Commodore BBS's in the Chicagoland area. Many great boards, sysops, and communities. I recall such places as Speedway , Hacki Shack, Wildside, Mermaids Cove, North Pole, Loverboys Motel, Darkside, and Quarter Mile Stretch along with their wonderful sysops, Alkitron, Pink Panther, Mermaid, Snowman, Loverboy, and The Ami. Back then I was just a snot nosed kid , going by the handle Metal Mind, running amuck with my buddy Macho Man... but I was enthralled, and learned so much from the communities... We would even have meetups from time to time... picnics, football games, etc... Who says nerds are anti-social? These first starts, and early learning about technology, began my career in tech. The BBS scene had sub-scenes... I dabbled in the hack/phreak scene for a while, but giving that up completely after a secret service visit.. Through the BBSs, I next found the demoscene. This helped instill my sense of curiosity and discovery, and helped keep me on a legal and ethical path... I've met some amazing people along the way and wanted to say some thank yous.. Alkitron, Speedway was my first bbs.. You gave me my first exposure, and my first sysop chat session. Pink Panther, thanks for inviting me over and showing me your Hacki Shack setup WAY WAY back in they day... You were a local just around the corner from me by the Park.. Seeing your setup left me in awe, and likely influenced my decision to become an Sysadmin. The Phantom, We did pair programming 20+ years before it was hip, or even named. No one could ask for a better partner in code... The bbs community as a whole... Thank you for always challenging me. Thank you for linking me socially and programmatically to the world. Thank you for your support. WrongWay 1988- current Metal Mind 1987-1988 Silver Surfer <1987 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- sinesawtooth · 2020-08-01 14:58 Cheers from a fellow early 90s NTSC demoscener. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- HerpieMcDerpie · 2020-08-04 12:20 Tell me about the secret service visit! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- AdvertisingOk · 2020-08-10 09:26 if it still exists can you give me the address? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- BaronVonStrad · 2020-09-28 01:41 I also used to call Lover Boy's Motel and Mermaid's Cove. Also The Blade Shop, Ace's Landing, Animal House, Dave's Software Showroom, and Number 9 Dream. Before I discovered Color 64 BBSes, I used to call a couple of Apple boards; Ski's Lodge and The Switchboard. There were 4 or 5 DDial chat boards in the Chicago area too. My friends and I got invited to a few parties from the DDials. Those were the good old days for sure.