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.
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.
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.
But I have hope!
terminal side of BBSes, I feel like including easy mobile access may be difficult. There are ANSI BBS compatible terminal apps for mobile devices, but I feel like it's very awkward to use, with small text and the virtual
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.
Re: Back to BBSing
By: Nightfox to Dmxrob on Thu Aug 27 2026 09:39:36
terminal side of BBSes, I feel like including easy mobile access may
be
difficult. There are ANSI BBS compatible terminal apps for mobile
devices,
but I feel like it's very awkward to use, with small text and the
virtual
Does Synchronet not have a web-based access as well as ANet.
terminal side of BBSes, I feel like including easy mobile access may be
difficult. There are ANSI BBS compatible terminal apps for mobile
devices, but I feel like it's very awkward to use, with small text and
the virtual
Does Synchronet not have a web-based access as well as ANet.
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.
I've thought about this before, and I always tend to feel like
technology did evolve already, including things accessible from mobile devices etc., and that evolution didn't really include BBSes.
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 think it's inevitible that modern BBS software will have web support
of some sort. Mobile telnet interfaces are a pain.
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.
Web support is perfectly fine, in my opinion. However, require a logged in user for read access. Guests, web crawlers, etc. shouldn't be able to read messages without authentication.
Hey awehttam!
On Thu, 27 Aug 2026 18:05:50 -0700, you wrote:
I think it's inevitible that modern BBS software will have web support
of some sort. Mobile telnet interfaces are a pain.
Web support is perfectly fine, in my opinion. However, require a
logged in user for read access. Guests, web crawlers, etc. shouldn't
be able to read messages without authentication.
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
I think that's a good idea; maybe I'll look into securing my BBS a bit
more so that the forum messages aren't visible/readable on the web side
if a user isn't authenticated. With Synchronet, I'm curious if there's
an ARS keyword to specify that (maybe there is), though offhand, I
recall being able to add ARS such as "PROT NOT HTTP" - with that, I'd expeect that the forums just wouldn't show up at all on the web side, whether authenticated or not.
Well, "they're not supposed to" at least depending on a given
network/area's rules. BinktermPHP doesn't even allow this, although individual messages can be shared - something I opted to do for sharing items of interest with those who otherwise who might be interested in a
BBS post.
Hey awehttam!
On Thu, 27 Aug 2026 18:05:50 -0700, you wrote:
I think it's inevitible that modern BBS software will have web support
of some sort. Mobile telnet interfaces are a pain.
Web support is perfectly fine, in my opinion. However, require a logged in user for read access. Guests, web crawlers, etc. shouldn't be able to read messages without authentication.
At least I think that's why this conversation started in the first place. ;) >
Regards,
Nick
Well, "they're not supposed to" at least depending on a given
network/area's rules. BinktermPHP doesn't even allow this, although individual messages can be shared - something I opted to do for sharing
items of interest with those who otherwise who might be interested in a
BBS post.
all sysops know how to make that call, and a default setup for a new message base allows guest access to read them, which means it's also open to read without authentication on the web.
To be clear, it's no fault of the software, or DM's choice that the sysop ultimately should make that call. It's usually just unknowing sysops that have to be informed (and maybe even shown) to make those changes - per any network/area's rules, of course.
| Sysop: | Kurisu |
|---|---|
| Location: | Memphis, TN |
| Users: | 9 |
| Nodes: | 32 (0 / 32) |
| Uptime: | 83:53:17 |
| Calls: | 70 |
| Files: | 124 |
| D/L today: |
42 files (4,904K bytes) |
| Messages: | 32,396 |
