Came across an old ad from 1989 - Agency hiring a sysop to start what
became one of the most popular free teen-focused BBS's in my city.
Story in the comments.
reddit / bbs

----------------------------------------------------------------------
atomic_cattleprod · 2023-06-14 04:03

Found this ad in an old NAIT (Northern Alberta Institute of
Technology) student newspaper. I'm sure for many of us ex-sysops,
getting paid to run a BBS would have been a dream job (even if only
for $6.00 an hour).

Electronic Zoot (or E-Zoot) was a BBS created by the Alberta Alcohol
and Drug Abuse Commission (AADAC). In the late 1980s and early 1990s,
AADAC published a teen-focus magazine called Zoot Capri aimed at
providing self-esteem and anti-drug messaging to teens. E-Zoot was
created as another medium to reach out to teens. In its heyday, the
BBS had grown to six dial-up lines and had a very active message base,
file base, and multi-line conference.

The BBS itself only really served Edmonton and surrounding areas as it
only had Edmonton-local dial-up nodes, however later in its life it
partnered with a number of BBS's throughout Alberta to start a
FidoNet-Technical network called SpiderNET to deliver teen-focused
echomail throughout the province.

Some of the young users of E-Zoot also participated in other AADAC
activities. I and a couple of friends I'd met on the board became part
of the Zoot Capri editorial board and we volunteered for the First
Night festival (a dry New Years' party that AADAC used to run in
Churchill Square at the time).

As with most BBSs, it was a very popular board until the later half of
the 1990s when the internet supplanted BBSs. AADAC attempted to re-
boot E-Zoot as a web-based bulletin and chat board, but it never
really had the same success. AADAC has now been absorbed into Alberta
Health Services and it no longer offers the same services to teens as
it used to.

E-Zoot is a very fondly remembered BBS from back in the day, so
finding this ad was quite a cool trip down memory lane for me.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
PaulLee420 · 2023-06-14 23:56

Wow. Six bucks - sounds about right. :P

Wonder how many bonfire parties were planned on good ole E-Z.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
atomic_cattleprod · 2023-06-17 13:52

> Wonder how many bonfire parties were planned on good ole E-Z.

We call them bush parties up here, and there were quite a few planned
on E-Zoot.