Since re-starting my BBS and trying to make an approach to bring something unique to the BBS community, I'm making an attempt to bridge the historical gap of when BBS's were the Internet Pioneers, and the ease of online notifications of today.

To this end, I've created a Discord server titled BBS Global Community, which can be accessed at the following URL through both web and the Discord app:

https://discord.gg/0yCxVosom5wTBQRr

Discord is a text and voice chat application that can be accessed via the web, its downloadable app on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS devices.

The purpose of this is a hope to be able to bring BBS community people together in a modern medium, which can foster other users to connect to their respective systems, chat with the SysOp through Push-To-Talk communications, and to receive announcements on your mobile devices whenever the SysOps make those.

This idea is still in its infancy, so I am also looking for individuals to help foster and build upon an idea with me. I am hopeful that this could help foster the 'old hands' a medium where they can exchange ideas, help others and introduce the Pioneers of the Internet to the next generation of users.

I'm open to suggestions and feedback, and look forward to pursuing this (if the community deems it worthy, of course) into something that can partner with BBS Operators and members alike.

-Patch
R2LOTW.synchro.net

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Re: You are cordially invited!
By: Patch to All on Sun Apr 24 2016 07:30 pm

gap of when BBS's were the Internet Pioneers, and the ease of online notifications of today.

when were bbses the internet pioneers?

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þ Synchronet þ ::: BBSES.info - free BBS services :::

Patch wrote to All <=-

Since re-starting my BBS and trying to make an approach to bring
something unique to the BBS community, I'm making an attempt to bridge
the historical gap of when BBS's were the Internet Pioneers, and the
ease of online notifications of today.

Some interesting ideas there, will have to check it out sometime. :)


... Man, that lightning sounds closõ¯¨©~®Ô NO CARRIER
--- MultiMail/Win32 v0.49
þ Synchronet þ Freeway BBS in Bendigo, Australia.

Re: You are cordially invited!
By: Mro to Patch on Sun Apr 24 2016 10:23 pm

Re: You are cordially invited!

When I was running a BBS was back in the 80's through 2001. Connecting to BBS's and exchanging email, message boards and online games were literally the pioneers of what we know of the internet today.

When the internet was first introduced, it was a text based network set for universities to be able to communicate back and forth.

Yes, I'm that old.

-Patch

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Re: You are cordially invited!
By: Patch to Mro on Mon Apr 25 2016 05:00 pm

When I was running a BBS was back in the 80's through 2001. Connecting to BBS's and exchanging email, message boards and online games were literally the pioneers of what we know of the internet today.

When the internet was first introduced, it was a text based network set for universities to be able to communicate back and forth.

Yes, I'm that old.

Me too, I was there, running BBSes and working on *nix servers powering the early internet.

I would suggest that BBS sysops and users were not really the pioneers of what the internet is today, but that the internet and BBSes developed independently in parallel and then converged in the early 90s.

The Internet was really born and developed by DARPA and universities, further powered by metropolitan networks (SprintNet, Telenet, etc AX.25 nets in big metros), and then embraced by the individual demand via CompuServ and AOL and similar who provided Internet access, and that consumer demand also spawned ISPs (Internet Service Providers).

It's true that a portion of BBSes adopted Internet functionality early on in the 90s (if I had to venture a guess, I'd say 10-15% of BBSes), which further encouraged the use of the Internet.

But I've been very unaware of an sysops that were contributing directly to the development of the internet, other than funneling users to it. I'm sure there were individuals, but it wasn't a phenomina that BBSes were inherently the reason the internet took off.

After all, we have the Internet to blame for the demise of the BBS!

In all of that, I'm not trying to say that you are wrong, but just that I view it a little differently.

Cheers,

Knight

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þ Synchronet þ The Phunc BBS -- Back from the dead! -- telnet to bbs.phunc.com

Re: You are cordially invited!
By: Knight to Patch on Mon Apr 25 2016 09:06 pm

I would suggest that BBS sysops and users were not really the pioneers of what the internet is today, but that the internet and BBSes developed independently in parallel and then converged in the early 90s.

I guess that I should clarify. I don't believe I ever said that BBS's 'developed' the internet.

The way that I see it, BBS Systems were the literal 'network' in using FidoNet, and other large network connections to be able to communicate to one another effectively regardless of the distance between them.

We had 'web email' before internet email was *popular*, emailing 1@nodeNumber would take several days to get there, but it would. Same with message bases, whoever would make the long distance connection whenever there was a gap between local connections was heavily prized by SysOps.

BBS's were able to provide a very basic and rudamentary aspect of what we know and use the internet for today. Getting information from peers or peer-related physical aspects, communicating through the computer and telephone lines with folks literally all over the world, online games that were more successful if they were multi-BBS configured, and let's not forget with multiple lines comes multi-chat rooms too.

I believe that we helped to usher in a new era, not that we developed or perfected it. As you've stated that many BBS's (mine included) started losing callers when the internet was getting integrated more and more commonly in our homes.

No one wanted to pay long distance to get information that they could possibly get on the internet.

We were the web before the World Wide Web, and if you think about how these messages get sent and received to their respective destinations ... we still are.

I apologize if my opinion somehow offended anyone, I like to think that in my lifetime I've seen technology morph from 8088 machines to the processors that we have in our systems.

-Patch

... Components that must not and cannot be assembled improperly will be.

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þ Synchronet þ R2LOTW - Reliving The Past - r2lotw.synchro.net - 24/7 - Games, Files, Messages.

Re: You are cordially invited!
By: Patch to Knight on Tue Apr 26 2016 08:33 am

I apologize if my opinion somehow offended anyone, I like to think that in my lifetime I've seen technology morph from 8088 machines to the processors that we have in our systems.

No, hey not at all. No offense taken. Just as I said at the end of my own write-up, I'm not saying you're wrong, just that I have a different view of things.

And ultimately I think I understand now what you were saying and I agree with that.

Knight

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þ Synchronet þ The Phunc BBS -- Back from the dead! -- telnet to bbs.phunc.com

Re: You are cordially invited!
By: Knight to Patch on Tue Apr 26 2016 10:19 am

No, hey not at all. No offense taken. Just as I said at the end of my own write-up, I'm not saying you're wrong, just that I have a different view of things.
And ultimately I think I understand now what you were saying and I agree with that.

I'm glad that no offense was taken, would hate to start off on a bad foot. =)

I feel that original BBS SysOp's can be considered the Stone Age version of the Internet as we have it today.

Although I think we get dates differently now than we did back then. =)

-Patch

... The cause of problems are solutions!

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þ Synchronet þ R2LOTW - Reliving The Past - r2lotw.synchro.net - 24/7 - Games, Files, Messages.

Patch wrote to Knight <=-

I guess that I should clarify. I don't believe I ever said that BBS's 'developed' the internet.

The way that I see it, BBS Systems were the literal 'network' in using FidoNet, and other large network connections to be able to communicate
to one another effectively regardless of the distance between them.

BBSs were _the_ messaging networks of the day, for general public access. The Internet didn't really become a mainstream thing until the mid - late 1990s, but there were thousands of BBSs, and who knows how many users, participating in Fidonet and many other networks, both FTN and QWK (and I believe others, but we only carried FTN and QWK networks).

We had 'web email' before internet email was *popular*, emailing 1@nodeNumber would take several days to get there, but it would. Same with message bases, whoever would make the long distance connection whenever there was a gap between local connections was heavily prized
by SysOps.

Well, we had online email, no hyperlinks. :) Our BBS was one that ran several long haul links, mostly interstate, a couple of international ones too for niche networks. :)

BBS's were able to provide a very basic and rudamentary aspect of what
we know and use the internet for today. Getting information from peers
or peer-related physical aspects, communicating through the computer
and telephone lines with folks literally all over the world, online
games that were more successful if they were multi-BBS configured, and let's not forget with multiple lines comes multi-chat rooms too.

Yep, BBSs certainly brought all of these to the users. There was also the anticipation of what would arrive in the next mail packet - did that much awayted netmail reply come through? How was the raging echo debate going? etc. :)

I believe that we helped to usher in a new era, not that we developed
or perfected it. As you've stated that many BBS's (mine included)
started losing callers when the internet was getting integrated more
and more commonly in our homes.

Yes, BBS callers fell off very rapidly in the late 1990s, as users migrated to the Internet. The email gateway lasted a bit longer, as I was its main user in the latter days. The gateway survived Y2K with few, if any, issues, but less than 2 years later, the arrival of broadband, with an enforced change of ISPs killed off the gateway, by stopping the SMTP/NNTP feed. I've since resurrected my old domain and connection, this time using VPN technology, and I'm back BBSing. :)

No one wanted to pay long distance to get information that they could possibly get on the internet.

We were the web before the World Wide Web, and if you think about how these messages get sent and received to their respective destinations
... we still are.

I apologize if my opinion somehow offended anyone, I like to think that
in my lifetime I've seen technology morph from 8088 machines to the processors that we have in our systems.

So have I. My first BBS was a home built XT with a 10MB HDD. Today's BBS is a credit card sized Pi with 16G SD card. And it's a vastly more capable system than my first BBS machine! :)


... A day without sunshine is like night.
--- MultiMail/Win32 v0.49
þ Synchronet þ Freeway BBS in Bendigo, Australia.

Re: You are cordially invited!
By: Knight to Patch on Mon Apr 25 2016 09:06 pm

I would suggest that BBS sysops and users were not really the pioneers of what the internet is today, but that the internet and BBSes developed independently in parallel and then converged in the early 90s.

the bbses were at their best, social communities that helped people meet friends online and hopefully in their own regions.

i think that's why they didnt pan out so well when we hooked them up to the internet. the internet and www and bbses are two different animals entirely.

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Re: You are cordially invited!
By: Mro to Knight on Tue Apr 26 2016 06:30 pm

I would suggest that BBS sysops and users were not really the pioneers of what the internet is today, but that the internet and BBSes developed independently in parallel and then converged in the early 90s.

the bbses were at their best, social communities that helped people meet friends online and hopefully in their own regions.

i think that's why they didnt pan out so well when we hooked them up to the internet. the internet and www and bbses are two different animals entirely.

This is truly odd. I agree with this. Agreeing with Mro twice in one week? Am I OK? Do I need to see my doctor for a blood test? :)

Exactly. The hyperlocality of BBSes directly conflicted with the global nature of the Internet.

But if you look at society today, I'd say it's truly missing that local community component that BBSes did such a great job at providing. Irony!

Knight

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þ Synchronet þ The Phunc BBS -- Back from the dead! -- telnet to bbs.phunc.com

Knight wrote to Mro <=-

But if you look at society today, I'd say it's truly missing that local community component that BBSes did such a great job at providing.
Irony!

BBSs still have the potential to provide that local feel. And I agree, the wider Internet often lacks community feel.
... Hold on a sec. A cat is tugging at my heartstrings.
--- MultiMail/Win32 v0.49
þ Synchronet þ Freeway BBS in Bendigo, Australia.