BBS Links Database Back Online 100
leviathan writes "After being down for almost a year, the original BBS Links Database is back in action. Started back in 1999, almost a third of the original entries have been pruned out, and others are in dire need of updating. If you run a BBS related web site, please help us out by adding it to the database, or updating your existing entries."
FINALLY (Score:5, Funny)
So.. we can track down the people we used to talk to in the days when we had no life and compare TradeWars scores. This service in invaluable!
Except they don't list my old l33t undergr0und BBS I used to run with information on how to build a beige box.
Ah.. the days when I was young an innocent.
Forgive the nostalgia.
Re:FINALLY (Score:5, Insightful)
Arrgh. I am sick and tired of the Slashbot groupthink idea that the BBS is a thing of the past. The BBS community is alive and well on the Internet. It's single-line dialup systems that are dead.
BBS's still provide the greatest sense of a cohesive online community out there. Better than "blog" type nonsense, and certainly better than what the likes of MSN and AOL have to offer.
I've run UNCENSORED! BBS [citadel.org] for 14 years and I'm not about to stop now. And the 200+ users aren't going to stop logging in, either. Modern BBS's offer access via telnet/ssh or web, your choice. And the Internet-connectedness of it all has made it possible for BBS communities to attain geographic diversity, something which was not possible when you had to deal with long distance modem calls.
Please, people, let's get the perspective straight. The BBS is alive and well, so stop pushing this "bygone era" myth.
Re:FINALLY (Score:2, Insightful)
By the way, when people say BSDs are dead, they do actually mean dial-in BBSs, and not online ones. No one means to offend people like you who actually run on-line BBSs.
Re:FINALLY (Score:3, Funny)
Was that a freudian slip?
siri
Re:FINALLY (Score:1, Informative)
The Internet-connectedness is what ruins it as a BBS experience. The BBS was a local community phenomenon that was limited by the toll call. You were (virtually) guaranteed to be talking to humans that lived in your physical neighbourhood, back in the BBS days. You only had to sift through a couple dozen messages a day, instead of several thousand. In the old days, BBS picnics and get togethers were quite common. The BBS actually fostered real-world meeting. Now you are talking to strangers thousands of miles away you will probably never meet, and as such the "Internet" BBS will never be as close-knit as the old hometown BBS.
Re:FINALLY (Score:2)
Re:FINALLY (Score:3, Informative)
Travis
Database record count (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Database record count (Score:2)
Heh, when is the last time that you saw a BBS announce that it was closing? For me, it was always a shocker. I'd get home from school and dial up, only to get a ring-no-answer or phone-line-disconnected message. A few weeks later, you'd see their BBS in the nodelist diff and know that it was indeed over.
Re:Database record count (Score:1)
Of course this happens at 2 am.
Now I can sit around... (Score:3, Funny)
Clarification? (Score:5, Insightful)
Note to moderators: I'm not trolling, or being offtopic, or being flamebait. This can be a legit discussion.
Re:Clarification? (Score:2)
Let me count the ways (Score:4, Insightful)
You ever want to play old door games, and hang out in an even tinier, community, just for old time sake? Send emails in a closed system, make postings that only make sense to members? Then a telnet BBS is the place for you to hang out.
2. Cool factor
Cause it sounds so much more attractive (IMHO) than blog.
3. Privacy
The chances of an honest to goodness dial up BBS adds a bit of privacy to every posting and conversation.
4. Community
This is sort of the same, or at least touched on in the first post. We have it here, but not quite so cohesive. BBS's (and now a days blogs) offer like minded people a place to go to share, socialize, and feel welcome.
I have several friends, that even in the day of Everquest and UO continually play MUDs for many of the reasons I have outlined.
i've been working... (Score:2)
Re:Clarification? (Score:3, Informative)
I still connect to a few to play TradeWars, L.O.R.D., and other goofy console games. They're not fantastic games by today's standards, but I still dig them.
Other than games, I don't know what people connect for. textfiles.com [textfiles.com] takes care of all my old skool textfile cravings, so there's little need for a bbs in that regard.
Mostly, I think it's just an anachronism. It's nice to fire up a telnet app and get back to your roots.
Re:Clarification? (Score:2, Insightful)
Someone else touched on the community of bulletin boards. In my opinion, the Internet can never approach the sense of community that was offered by bulletin boards.
Re:Clarification? (Score:1)
Re:Clarification? (Score:3, Interesting)
If you'd believe it, this bbs is acting as a fully functional hub for Fight-o-net, RIME, Family and even Animenet, as inactive as the latter regretfully is.
BBSes are *very* efficient file repositories. (Score:2, Insightful)
Why?
Not only does it remain one of the best file repositories for the main OS I use here (OS/2), but I find its MAXIMUS/2 interface to be superior to the one used by the http or ftp-based file collections out there.
Re:BBSes are *very* efficient file repositories. (Score:2)
Re:Clarification? (Score:3, Insightful)
Secure messaging. I don't know about the others (well, I know of holes in PCBoard and Renegade) but Wildcat is VERY secure. If you place a private message via dialup, only you, the recipient, and the sysop can see it (gotta trust the sysop, who is not readily distinguishable from god
Messaging for people who don't have access to an ISP of any sort. A great deal of eastern Europe, Russia, and Africa still uses FidoNet (transmitted via BBS) for email, since they don't have internet access. FIDO can be slow (especially in areas where it still relies entirely on BBSs calling each other to transfer mail packets) but it works.
File storage: Sometimes it's real handy to be able to call a dialup BBS and fetch some utility that you need to fix a client's balky machine, which meanwhile refuses to log onto an ISP.
Modem diagnostic: I use the dialup BBS to check whether modem hardware is working (in cases where you can't tell for sure if it's dead hardware or just that DUN got hosed).
Email server hosed? Gotta send something NOW? Telnet into an internet-connected BBS that offers email, and send your mail from there instead.
Anyway, those are some practical uses for a BBS, in addition to the door games and community aspects. Admittedly all these aspects are a niche market, but niche markets offer alternatives, and access to alternatives is always better than a lack of alternatives.
Oh, and before the internet, BBSs were where you'd go for warez and pr0n. Of course, you had to know *exactly* where to go, just like you do on the net today.
Re:Clarification? (Score:2)
Re:Old bbs - still working (Score:1)
And don't forget to visit BBSmates.com (Score:5, Informative)
Be nice, he's using IIS [bbsmates.com]
Re:And don't forget to visit BBSmates.com (Score:1, Flamebait)
I'm curious as to what you mean by that, because IIS has traditionally smoked Apache in serving benchmarks in terms of sheer numbers of connections it can serve up.
Also, the fact that he might be serving it up on a DSL line could be a factor.
Re:And don't forget to visit BBSmates.com (Score:1)
Re:And don't forget to visit BBSmates.com (Score:4, Funny)
I've always loved thinking about how people might approach that. "Maybe if I click the link really slowly..."
Need to hurry up and re-start my BBS! (Score:2)
RickTheWizKid
Score: 5, Nostalgic
Renegade 5u0rs. (Score:3, Insightful)
at least you were advocating WWiV or telegard...
Re:Renegade 5u0rs. (Score:2)
Heh, who'd have ever expected a BBS war in 2002?
Re:Renegade 5u0rs. (Score:2)
BTW, WC is still under active development. Tho Santronics is not nearly as good at bug-stomping as Mustang was.
Geez, I feel old
Re:Renegade 5u0rs. (Score:2)
Re:Need to hurry up and re-start my BBS! (Score:1)
Wonder how htat looks in a browser?
Re:Need to hurry up and re-start my BBS! (Score:1)
Get your tapes working, move everything over to a modern box (unless you're feeling extra nostalgic), and run it through the net. A dedicated dialup line would be plenty of bandwidth (compared to 1200BPS/300baud, etc).
Wildcat rules! (Score:1)
if ya cant find the time to update the bbs records (Score:2)
true communities (Score:5, Interesting)
vs the september that never ended, when AOL first gave internet access.
even in a large forum, most of the key players only number in the large handfuls.
Great, a BBS List! (Score:5, Funny)
16 Colour Pr0n! (Score:3, Funny)
Aaaaagh EGA pr0n! Mine eyes!
CGA was even worse though... nothing living - that anyone would want to get near - should ever take on that particular shade of magenta... or cyan.
Re:16 Colour Pr0n! (Score:2)
The black/yellow/red/green CGA wasn't so bad. You're right, though, Magenta/Black/White/Cyan was AWFUL.
Anybody know who chose those colors and why? It's hard to imagine an engineer in those days deciding those particular colors would be useful because they're pretty.
Good news (Score:5, Informative)
Message areas are not only availible through QWK packets (can be downloaded via FTP as well) but also through NNTP, and Gopher.
Everyone loves door games as well, and there are many Leages (Inter-BBS) that still run games such as BRE, Falcon's Eye, Arrowbridge, and more.
So, to all of you who think the BBS got left in the dust with the Modem, think again! :)
Re:Good news (Score:2)
And no, I'm afraid that I can't post the link to it. Slashdotting the home 128k upload DSL line would seriously piss off the rest of the household.
Re:Good news (Score:2)
Funny you mention old Fidonet. For the hell of it, I went and read a Fidonews issue a few months ago. Even though it's been ten years since I read FidoNews regularly, and even though Fido is a mere ghost of its former self, THEY ARE STILL FIGHTING! IT WILL NEVER END! When there are two people left on FidoNet, they will still argue about who gets to be the ZC.
Re:Good news (Score:2)
they are just darn fun (Score:2, Insightful)
Hee yeah... (Score:5, Funny)
So there I was saying to myself "Self, don't you find the gig fiber to work and the cable modem at home too fast?" and I replied "Yup. Sure do, how I long for the Olde Days." so I said to myself "Self, dust off that old Prometheus 1200 baud modem, hook it into the Apple ][+ and relax for a bit. Enjoy life at a slower pace when the hectic rush of modern life was unheard of." so I did.
Then I downloaded some ASCII pr0n and said "Self, are you out of your fucking mind?"
Re:Hee yeah... (Score:1)
BBS's long from dead (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:BBS's long from dead (Score:1)
not /.ed yet... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:not /.ed yet... (Score:2, Informative)
Hmmmmmm (Score:2, Funny)
Wow! (Score:5, Funny)
Ummmm....
How do I switch my cable modem to "dial up" mode?
Re:Wow! (Score:2)
Re:Wow! (Score:1)
Started BACK ... ? (Score:3, Insightful)
but some how saying
Started BACK in 1999 makes it sound like
Started BACK in 1899.
Guys get a perspective of Time.
Re:Started BACK ... ? (Score:1)
It Was... Um... (Score:2)
Old ideas can be new again. (Score:4, Interesting)
I remember reading an article some years ago--maybe it was in the book MEGATRENDS--speculating that the time would come when the Internet would be too crowded or too dangerous in the future. I sorta brushed-off the idea. The author went on to say he thought like-minded folks would form stand-alone network "guilds" to afford a more secure computing environment.
Maybe privacy will push some of us in that direction. It would be funny to see a new generation of BBS operators springing up here and there.
I wonder what new hardware and programs might come of it?
Re:Old ideas can be new again. (Score:2)
With an offline mail reader (OLMR), you can do all your mail reading and writing offline, then transfer the compressed QWK (new mail) and REP (reply) packets in one to two minutes -- so even if you have to call long distance, it's still pretty cheap to accomplish. Check out the list of OLMRs at http://www.kannoncom.com/~jhanoian/readers/
Hopefully it'll never get to where we really NEED the good old dialup BBS just to keep Big Brother out of our email, but I don't plan to throw out my Wildcat disks, either.
Shameless plug... (Score:3, Interesting)
I make a Tradewars2002 helper for java.
Its even open source!
Go to www.j-twat.com [j-twat.com] to check it out, or to the sourceforge page here [sourceforge.org]
Good linux bbs client? (Score:2, Offtopic)
PS DungeonBBS forever!!!
telnet dungeonbbs.org now!
Heck, why not use current tech with BBS'es? (Score:1)
Now THAT would be cool. Even cooler is if you got IP's for the 6-bone (Assuming you can do that).
What's a BBS (Score:2)
Re:What's a BBS (Score:1)
Re:What's a BBS (Score:2)
In the dialup era, BBSs tended to develop their own distinct personalities, reflective of both the sysop and the user base, which at the time tended to be drawn from the surrounding community. People on BBSs tended to become good friends and even held local get-togethers. Folks who've only known forum or usenet messaging don't know what they're missing.
Fidonet alive in Russia & Africa (Score:4, Interesting)
More to the point, if you look at the zone file you'll notice that a majority of the activity is outside the old major activity zones (1-6)
Turns out that places like various countries in Africa and Russia are thriving using the old fido mailer programs.
Who'd have guessed that there would still be a market and place for a store and forward mailing and discussion list for nodes that only connect to the network once a day or less.
Sounds an awful lot like usenet back in the day when UUCP transmisions between sites was a common way to transfer stuff and there was actually a maintained uunet list. (wasn't there something on
Last year when I logged onto a fido BBS, most of his mail read year 1901
Oh for the days when in an echomail group when you can see the second generation of replies to a message before actually seeing the original message. (If the originator had less than steller connections
Re:Fidonet alive in Russia & Africa (Score:2)
Actually, I thought routed netmail [was that the term for it? it's been a while...] was cool as hell. For the heck of it, I would write messages to sysops in Africa (even to the little Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius once!) asking them about their board and their countries. Sometimes, for the heck of it, I would attempt a direct modem connection and then would have to explain to my parents why I made a one-minute call to Tunisia. Most of the time, I'd send the message via routed netmail and eagerly await the response, which would let me view the headers for the lengthy return path. Once, I sent a routed netmail to one of these far-away sysops, only to have him direct-dial his response back to me!
Damn, those were the days!
Shell providers... (Score:1)
UNIX access systems provide a BBS much of the time. These machines are run by really cool people (albeit they think it's still 1991) that let everyone log in to their UNIX machines. Check out Grex [cyberspace.org] and The Super Dimensional Fortress [lonestsr.org].
Pretty 31337 huh? Sure beats 15 year old MS-DOS "admins" flanking warezed copies of the latest Infocom game....
Re:Shell providers... (Score:1)
When I was a kid.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Now I can leech full Porn DVD's over cable. Isn't technology grand?
Documentary Still Chugging Along (Score:2)
I'm not listed on the BBS Links, but that's OK. I also maintain a historical BBS List [textfiles.com] and a few BBS-era textfiles [textfiles.com].
Re:Documentary Still Chugging Along (Score:1)
*nix MUDs (Score:1, Interesting)
TheMage from the old metrobbs.
Re:*nix MUDs (Score:1)
I live 3 miles from darktech.org... (Score:1)
ObSortaOnTopic: Courts of Wisdom BBS - 941-927-3313. Existed here in Sarasota for over 3 years. 6 lines of CNet on a souped up Amiga 2000. I spent many a night re-dialing that phone number in order to get on. Even bought my 1st 14.4 modem from the sysop (and I still have said external SupraFAX modem).
MRE
___
Re:I live 3 miles from darktech.org... (Score:1)
Renegade BBS (Score:2)
What amuses me is to look at the 'official Renegade BBS site' and #1 Google hit, which still reads
April 5/00
The Renegade page is currently getting its update. It'll be finished by the weekend at the latest.
Last Post! (Score:1)
brilliant inventor despite the fact that he had little formal education and
lived in New Jersey. Edison's first major invention in 1877, was the
phonograph, which could soon be found in thousands of American homes, where
it basically sat until 1923, when the record was invented. But Edison's
greatest achievement came in 1879, when he invented the electric company.
Edison's design was a brilliant adaptation of the simple electrical circuit:
the electric company sends electricity through a wire to a customer, then
immediately gets the electricity back through another wire, then (this is
the brilliant part) sends it right back to the customer again.
This means that an electric company can sell a customer the same batch of
electricity thousands of times a day and never get caught, since very few
customers take the time to examine their electricity closely. In fact the
last year any new electricity was generated in the United States was 1937;
the electric companies have been merely re-selling it ever since, which is
why they have so much free time to apply for rate increases.
-- Dave Barry, "What is Electricity?"
- this post brought to you by the Automated Last Post Generator...