You should have been around during the golden era -- the 1980s into the very late 1990s. What a memory, and what a time! Rushing home from school to try to get on your local boards before everyone else and the constant busy signals until the wee hours of the morning.
In many ways, with the growing hatred amongst all people towards Facebook/Meta, AI, tech in general I am surprised we aren't seeing more
of a resurgence of BBS systems. I think people have finally had enough
of being told what tech they WILL use to enrich to the tech bros. Sure took long enough.
Ahhhh those good ol' days! As a SysOp, I had it so that user activity would be printed out on my dot matrix printer in real time as I was at high school. I'd come home, tear it off the printer and read through what everyone did while I was at school. I loved those days.
I also had a dot matrix printer and ran a BBS in those days.. I'd think that would have been noisy though, which wouldn't really be ideal when users logged in at night. I was naturally curious about my BBS activity
too, but I'd usually turn on the PC monitor and check the log files. As
a high school age kid, I was happy to see users were logging in and
using my BBS.
enough of being told what tech they WILL use to enrich to the tech bros. Sure took long enough.
This! I really do hope we start seeing more folks coming into the "modern" > > BBS scene and the numbers start going up. Like a new revival, a new era
(but same old vibe and structure). That would be so sweet.
I think the biggest barrier to entry is people don't know how to access boards. We need a well-used, modern access program - SyncTerm is about all I know of, and it's decent but not all that intuitive at at times.
There is also the mobile barrier... BBS systems are just not designed for mobile interaction.
the need to use syncterm. you're right about mobile. bbses just dont work well on a phone.
Maybe someone can cook something up with AI.
Knight Shadow wrote to Dmxrob <=-
Ahhhh those good ol' days! As a SysOp, I had it so that user activity would be printed out on my dot matrix printer in real time as I was at high school. I'd come home, tear it off the printer and read through
what everyone did while I was at school. I loved those days.
flashing. I was a caller from Sweden. TO think that I could set up a
computer saved from a dumpster, hook it up to a phone line and have
would be printed out on my dot matrix printer in real time as I was at high school. I'd come home, tear it off the printer and read through what everyone did while I was at school. I loved those days.
Knight Shadow wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-
Oh cool story! You found a computer in the dumpster? What kind was it?
Did you just plug it in and things were working? (after you cleaned it
off I presume... that was probably step 1 :) )
Randers wrote to Nightfox <=-
I would like to get some dot matrix paper now for stress relief.
Tearing off the sides was up there with popping bubbles in bubblewrap
for satisfying, although it'd go wrong often and you'd lose half the
paper too. Then have to wait a few minutes to reprint that one page. Carefully folding and unfolding first was the key to success.
But ah.... it was a simple time :D
too. Then have to wait a few minutes to reprint that one page. Carefully folding and unfolding first was the key to success.
flashing. I was a caller from Sweden. TO think that I could set up a
computer saved from a dumpster, hook it up to a phone line and have
Oh cool story! You found a computer in the dumpster? What kind was it? Did you just plug it in and things were working? (after you cleaned it off I presume... that was probably step 1 :) )
|08[|07K|08N1GHT|07S|08HAD0W]
|08[...|070|08F.|07T|08H3...]
I'll never get tired of this topic. I love the nostalgia too. I nearly failed an assigment in grade 3 or grade 4, so roughly 1989, because it was printed (dot matrix). The teacher could not grasp that we had a printer at home, or further to that, that I could possibly use it. She insisted there was no way I was capable of it.
Knight Shadow wrote to Dmxrob <=-
Ahhhh those good ol' days! As a SysOp, I had it so that user activity would be printed out on my dot matrix printer in real time as I was at high school. I'd come home, tear it off the printer and read through what everyone did while I was at school. I loved those days.
I remember getting up early to go into work and seeing the modem lights
flashing. I was a caller from Sweden. TO think that I could set up a
computer saved from a dumpster, hook it up to a phone line and have
someone halfway around the world connect to it was mind-boggling. The
world was a lot bigger then.
... Make a blank valuable by putting it in an exquisite frame
-- how we used to have to submit jobs on stacks of punched cards.
That's the way it was -- and WE LIKED IT!"
Until you dropped your deck, then not so much.
I found old-school power supply fans to be like white noise, lulling me back to sleep if I woke up in the middle of the night. I'd hear the hard drive chattering and I'd know it was zone mail hour - the board tossing mail from Fidonet.
mobile interaction.
As it should be. You want the true BBS experience, that "vide", use a real computer; desktop, laptop, even a Surface or Linux tablet will work.
We're the guys who thought that internet thing was just a passing fad.
:)
Neko wrote to Bryn <=-mastodon.fediverse.observer/stat
@MSGID: <6AC2C1E1.8445.dove-general@bbs.miyanet.moe>
@REPLY: <6AC28705.40747.dove-general@endofthelinebbs.com>
Re: Re: I just installed syncterm I NOW
LIKE BBSES!! :)
By: Bryn to Gamgee on Sun
Oct 04 2026 12:04:05
The most reliable estimate I could pull from
s is ~900,000 active monthly users. Certainly a few orders of magnitude below mainstream social media, but I
don't think that's nearly as niche as the BBS
community.
I also know at least a few people that are visiting "fediverse
instances" regularily, but been to BBSes once or twice and don't seem
to catch the thing for too long. Maybe because of a network effect, because some of them are at least familiar with terminal interfaces.
phigan wrote to Boraxman <=-
@MSGID: <6ACE20D0.14480.dove-general@tacopronto.bbs.io>
@REPLY: <6AC8158C.70962.dove-gen@bbs.mozysswamp.org>
Re: Re: I just installed sync
By: Boraxman to Neko on
Fri Oct 09 2026 08:33 am
After all, I use the technology to communicate with people, not just for the sake of using the technology.
Heheh, it's other way round for me. Technology first, because that's
what I'm interested in. The communications part is like a byproduct.
The Gemini community is a good example of people who are together because of technology, and not an actual desire to talk to each other.
What all have you found on Gemini? And where does one look, really?
What software did you use? I mostly like reading things either from old computer terminals or any ol' linux/unix shell, so I like the "less graphics" idea.
---
I do maintain a Gopher site myself, which is very similar to Gemini, but old and accessible on older machines.
Gemini requires TLS so you may not be able to use it on a 486 like Gopher.
I do maintain a Gopher site myself, which is very similar to Gemini, but and accessible on older machines.
Gemini requires TLS so you may not be able to use it on a 486 like Gopher
Sweet, thanks for all that info. What's your Gopher site?
I'd be using stuff older than a 486, but usually connected into a Raspberry or something ;).. Like right now.
Typin' on a breadbin 64.
| Sysop: | Mojo |
|---|---|
| Location: | Jasckson, Michigan |
| Users: | 10 |
| Nodes: | 10 (0 / 10) |
| Uptime: | 498472:53:57 |
| Calls: | 100 |
| Calls today: | 1 |
| Files: | 10,063 |
| D/L today: |
7 files (90K bytes) |
| Messages: | 25,977 |
