What is a BBS?

The real story should almost start out that way. Long before the commercialization of the Internet, in fact, long before the Internet was available at all, there were places you could go with your computer called Bulletin Board Systems or BBS. These places were far more friendly and personal than the Internet has ever been.

The first BBS was hosted on a small computer and was simply an electronic version of the bulletin board you often see in small convenience shops or grocery stores - a place to post simple messages. It was very simple but a useful way for many people, remote from each other, to leave messages for each other.

The next addition to the BBS was an actual mail system that let a user leave a more private message directly to another individual user, instead of just posting public messages that everyone could read.

The first readily available BBS software was a program called Citidel and it was styled after a castle with a long corridor off of which were several rooms, each accessed by opening and going through a door. Each room was a specific service. One would be for public messages, another for private mail, still another for bulletins posted by the system operator, or "SysOp". Later, other features, like games, were added.

It was in this manner that the term 'doors', for other programs, services or features added to the basic BBS software, originated. Today, 'doors' are elaborate games, links to other whole bulletin board systems, databases and more.

The early BBS were run on single personal computers, usually funded out of the SysOp's pocket or perhaps with a few donations from friends and other users. They often had only one dial-up phone line connected to a single modem so that only one person at a time could connect and use the BBS. Later, multi-line systems developed. Eventually many BBS added Internet connectivity to allow dial-up users to access e-mail and/or actually connect through the BBS and out to the Internet itself.

A typical BBS would offer local messages, perhaps some form of wider area messaging, files, games, perhaps multi-node chat (live, real-time typing communication between silmutaneous users), information and other services. They tended to serve mostly their own local community, with perhaps a few long distance callers from other areas.

The 'hayday' of BBSing was probably from about 1987 to 1997. Before that time there was very little quality BBS software available. After that time many BBS ceased operation because so many of their callers were lured away by cheap direct access to the Internet. Some said that the age of the BBS was over. BBSing was dead!

Not so! There were many boards that struggled on. Some continued to serve large numbers of callers. A few stayed as just dial-up (phone access) boards but many more added Internet access by FTP (to their files) and Telnet (to their other services. Telnet interfaces were created that supported all the features and services that the old dial-up terminal programs used to support. Several modem terminal programs, like QmodemPro, HyperTerm and others, included Telnet modes in their own feature list, allowing them to be used for both dial-up and Telnet access to BBS.

Bulletin board systems seem to be on the rise again. There is a whole generation of new SysOps coming on line with Telnet accessible BBS software, like SYNCHRONET and others, that offer Telnet only access and will perhaps never offer dial-up lines. They serve local communities and the whole world.

Today, as in the 'old days', SysOps offer a wide variety of services to their community. Indeed, whether serving a small local town or a world-wide audience, a BBS is just that, a community. It offers personal flavor and service that is somehow lost in the cold, impersonal Internet.

Typical BBS features include:

• bulletins: information postings, like this one, by the SysOp.

• local mail: messages which can be directed to individual users on the same BBS.

• local message forums: topical areas where messages on a given topic are posted publicly.

• net mail: forums that are actively forwarded to other member BBS so that the messages are available on any BBS subscribing to the network. The best known net mail system is called FIDO.

• echo mail: similar to net mail, but using a different system known as QWK (pronounced 'quick').

• file downloads: files available on the BBS which you may transfer to your computer for your own use. The term 'download' means transferring a file 'down' to your computer from a host or server computer such as a BBS. In network terms, the computer that does the connecting (you) is the 'client' and the computer to which the client connects (the BBS) is the 'host' or 'server'.

• file uploads: some BBS allow you to transfer file from your computer to the BBS computer for sharing with others. These files should be free files in the 'public domain', designated shareware files, or other types of files for which you have the permission to share with others. You should never upload commercial copyrighted files that are not designated as shareware.

• doors: still keeping the same name originated with Citadel software, doors are usually other programs running on the BBS server that you may access by selecting a link or entering a command key. You are transferred from the BBS to the door program. Door programs are typically games or databases or other information programs. Sometimes they will be links to sites other than the BBS you areconnected to.

Telnet has opened the world of BBSing to almost anyone, anywhere in the world. It also allows anyone to set up a BBS almost anywhere in the world to receive users from almost anywhere else. BBSing is something you should look into. It's different, probably less refined, than the Internet you might be used to, but it also offers a unique perspective, a warmer community admosphere when you participate, and a personality all its own.

Stephen B. Henry
SysOp: AMBASSADOR BOARD
30 April 2002