trying to make my own BBS !!! need some help !!! reddit / bbs ---------------------------------------------------------------------- liquid_3693 · 2023-01-23 15:55 [removed] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- cognitivegear · 2023-01-23 17:09 Are you already active in the BBS community? If you are not currently using existing BBSes then I would definitely do that before trying to start your own. You can find a pretty good list of BBSes at the Telnet BBS Guide: [https://www.telnetbbsguide.com/](https://www.telnetbbsguide.com/) As far as starting a BBS, a lot depends on what you enjoy from BBSing. The links on this sub will get you started as far as software etc. I'd find out what software the BBSes you enjoy the most are using and use that one. Enigma 1/2 (I'm biased, I'm a contributor to it,) Mystic, and Synchronet are good options, as are some of the other ones in that list as well. Just installing a BBS software is only going to get you so far though. You need to give people a reason to go to it. From what I have seen, people choose BBSes based on community, art, doors (games) and other reasons (for example files, though that is less important now than in the heyday of BBSing.) For art, check out r/ANSIart for examples of artwork, links to editors etc. For door games look on the links here as well as find some of your favorites from BBSes and look to how to install / run them. For community, look for a reason for people to join - is your BBS around a particular topic or community? How do you want to attract new members etc. All that said, as I mentioned I'd definitely start with using existing BBSes first, playing with creating ANSI art, and deciding what direction you would like your BBS to go in before jumping in to running one. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- goodstudyskyup · 2023-01-23 19:45 I think one important thing to consider is “what kind of bbs will you make, who will use it, and why will they keep coming back?” I love BBS. I’m on the road and not as active now, but for a while I was enjoying a few that did fun door games and had cool ascii art (I was really into ascii art at the time). Unless you can put in the time and effort to keep an active user base that will keep coming back, I may just end up as another cool but dead board. Make it easy to find and connect to. I would even be so bold as to make a website that loads your bbs as it’s homepage. I think if you did that, and made it really hit a niche community that is very retro nerd centric in its tastes, you could have something really fun going. Otherwise, a raspberry pie and a few tutorials should be enough to satisfy your curiosity if that’s all you are going for. But don’t be afraid to dive deep! One of my favorite bbs I was on often a year ago was being run on original hardware and completely coded in basic. Wish I could remember the name but the sysop was such a cool guy and you could tell his bbs was his love project ---------------------------------------------------------------------- illsk1lls · 2023-01-24 04:11 What kind of server are you using? If windows try [MysticBBS.com](https://MysticBBS.com) ;) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mro1337_000 · 2023-01-24 05:35 you can run synchronet and get it up and running easily. you'll be able to use javascript to turn it into the type of bbs you want. also a lot of us use ftelnet on our websites [https://embed-v2.ftelnet.ca/](https://embed-v2.ftelnet.ca/) people will jump down my throat but the fact is we have a small amount of users right now and things are in a slump. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dmine45 · 2023-01-24 08:51 Also visit The BBS Corner at [https://bbscorner.com](https://bbscorner.com) for more tips on running a BBS.