Remembering BBS communities
When user groups were first looking for ways to communicate over networks, systems known as Bulletin Board Systems (BBSes) stepped in to fill the void. Using terminal programs, users could upload and download software and data, as well as read posted messages in much the way one might on a physical bulletin board. BBSs also featured pre-Internet versions of electronic mail and chat rooms. Access to the BBSes was traditionally done via phone line. In the 1990s, however, access was also sometimes allowed via Telnet, packet switched network, or packet radio connection.Ward Christensen founded the first online BBS, CBBS, during Chicago’s Great Blizzard of 1978. While BBSes were often used to simply link existing communities, they also contributed to the creation of special subcultures all their own. Computer historian Jason Scott Sadofsky chronicled these communitiesextensivelyin his 2005 film BBS: The Documentary, which took more than three years to produce. There are eight episodes total, comprising more than five and a half hours of footage and interviews with BBS luminaries like Christensen, Tom Jennings and John Madill, and Dr. Vinton Cerf.FidoNet, a worldwide network between BBSes, is chronicled in the fourth episode. BBS users could communicate with each other using FidoNet addressesFidoNet was responsible for routing messages from one BBS to another. Single files could be attached to each message, and additional features like automated file distribution and data transmission for games soon developed. FidoNet was immensely popular in the heyday of BBS systems in the early-to-mid 1990s, and still exists today despite the closing of many BBSes.BBSes were also a haven for a subset of the computer art scene, known as ANSI art. This refers to art constructed from a set of 256 letters, numbers, and symbols, along with escape sequences for coloring text. A popular shareware text editor known as TheDraw, created in 1986, simplified and popularized ANSI art for BBS users. A number of game creation systems were created which exclusively used ANSI graphics. Given the often close community between ANSI artists, “ripping” (or plagiarizing) someone’s art was considered a cardinal sin.The penultimate episode of the documentary, “No Carrier,” chronicles the decline of the traditional dial-up BBS due to the rapid growth of the Internet. Internet forums soon replaced the BBS role for many users. However, BBSing does survive as a niche hobby in some parts of the world (especially in Taiwan). For others, it remains a fond memory and important part of the history of computer groups.