Talk:Bulletin board system

Contents

1 KOM-systems 2 BBS vs Internet forum 3 strange 4 Local phenomenon ? 5 8-bit era

KOM-systems

I think it would be nice if the article could cover the KOM-systems used in Scandinavia. These systems have an interface somewhat resembling a UNIX-shell, and integrate message boards with a chat-system similar to IRC. While not easy for beginners to use, such systems remain in use today and are actively developed while BBS:es in other parts of the world are declining.

Examples include: LysKOM, LuddKOM, HelsinkiKOM, SklaffKOM, Fabbes BBS and RydKOM.

Filur 13:51, 29 Jan 2005 (UTC)

BBS vs Internet forum

This article seems to distinguish BBS from Internet forum but is it really so? See 2ch, for example. I would like to merge somehow this to Internet forum but the trouble is the article has a lot of historical parts, which are good. Any though? -- Taku

BBS is a really old concept. If I understand correctly, they weren't even connected to the internet proper. Rather, you dialed up an individual BBS with your modem. I think it's a very valuable distinction, definitely needing a seperate page.

By the way, is 2ch a real BBS? It looks like it actually isn't. It certainly isn't if it is actually web-based. Evercat 01:30, 30 Sep 2003 (UTC)

Yes, strictly speaking I think this article ought to cover only those with a command-line interface. I'm not familiar with 2ch but if it's web-based it probably belongs in a different article. - Hephaestos 16:19, 30 Sep 2003 (UTC)

In Japanese, BBS means "Internet forum", but I haven't seen the term used in this way outside of Japanese contexts. The dial-up definition is older and more standard in English so I would be inclined to prefer it. I've changed the article to have "(primarily in Japan)" in the sentence about Internet forums; if this isn't a Japan-specific usage feel free to fix it. DopefishJustin 05:43, Apr 9, 2004 (UTC)

           The Japanese think like this? What a bunch of assholes (frsh,not registered, 1:07 P.M. 2/16/05).

See, the eariliest dial-in BBSes let users do the same sorts of things they would do with a regular physical bulletin board (e.g. posting messages for later users to read.) The name stuck, even as a wide array of new features were introduced to such systems (e.g. file transfers, door games, access to inter-BBS e-mail and discussion networks) meaning that the original metaphor didn't work so well any more. From there, the name quickly came to apply to any sort of computer system you would dial into with a modem and use interactively with a terminal (or terminal emulator). In the mid-1990's, as web forums begin to reach a wide audience in North America, I began to hear such forums referred to as BBSes, primarily by people who were not familiar with the interactive terminal dial-in system meaing that "BBS" had acquired, but who meant to make an analogy with physical bulletin boards. So, would this be considered a new separate meaning of the term? Or just an extension of the same meaning? --rakslice 08:40, 25 Dec 2004 (UTC)

strange

here in this article i saw smth...

though it's large, i don't think those who don't use Chinese can understand its content.

Flora 05:16, 28 Jun 2004 (UTC)

I worked for the company that made MBBS (aka The Major BBS) and I would say that about 75% of the customers ran commercial porn BBSs, so I would take issue with the statement that BBS's were usually run by hobbiests.

I think commercial BBSes like MBBS probably had a higher percentage of porn customers, but there were many hobbyists running Telegard, Renegade, etc. Maybe the article shouldn't use the term "most," because it's true that porn and other pay BBSes were a big chunk of the BBS market. Rhobite 16:27, Jul 22, 2004 (UTC)

There where many more hobbyist running mail, doors and files then there where pay sites. MBBS was a drop in the bucket to all BBS software that was on scene in the 80's and 90's. --Buster 17:01, Jul 22, 2004 (UTC)

I don't know if I agree with you. I remember a LOT of PCBoard and Citadel BBSs that had pay areas and porn too. I called a lot of pirate boards myself. I don't know if you can say that hobbyist boards outnumbered other boards by far. Rhobite 17:14, Jul 22, 2004 (UTC)

I will have to find an old BBS List and scan it in. I'm talking numbers like 1 in 10 might have been a paysite. Of course, almost all of them solicited for donations. Brings back a lot good memorys. --Buster 18:08, Jul 22, 2004 (UTC)

Check out [1] (http://bbslist.textfiles.com/), that may have what you're looking for. Yeah, it sure does bring back memories. Rhobite 18:25, Jul 22, 2004 (UTC)

Local phenomenon ?

The BBS was also a local phenomenon, as one had to dial into a BBS with a phone line and would have to pay long distance charges for a BBS out of the local area. Thus, many of a BBS's users lived in the same area and it was common for a BBS to hold a BBS Meet, where all of the users would gather and meet face to face.

Someone should edit this text. Free local rates is/was primarily a US phenomenon. Most people outside the US can not make local calls free.

• Yes, but local calls are nevertheless usually cheaper than longer-distance calls, so the essence of that section is still true... Krupo 18:25, Sep 8, 2004 (UTC)

8-bit era

It would be a good idea to capture some of the history of BBSes before, oh, say, 1990 or so. CP/M was an important operating system in the early days and RCP/M ("Remote") was a fairly standardized way to implement a BBS, though this didn't include the message base interface. Quality of the software of early systems varied enormously - it was part of the home computer experience for many larval hackers to write some BASIC code that would answer the phone and let their buddies leave messages. There were many Apple IIs and Commodore-64s sitting in bedrooms waiting for phone calls in the mid-80's.

It's also important to stress that BBSes were not the same as Internet. Particulary well-organized BBS SYSOPs might be part of a "network" for exchange of data and messages, usually by making calls at night when long distance rates were lower. This worked a little more like the early days of UUCP than what we know as the Internet today. --Wtshymanski 14:38, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)