The old BBS days

When I first got online, it was all about local BBSes and Sysops. Those were some fun times.

Down in Dade County, we had quite a few local bulletin boards to call. If you wanted to connect to one outside your local calling area, you either paid the long-distance charges or... "acquired" a long-distance calling code. If I remember right, they were six digits. You'd just keep trying random numbers until you finally hit one that gave you a dial tone.

One board I remember well was called Abuse. We had plenty of flame wars on that one.

But what amazes me looking back is that Usenet already existed, yet I had no idea it was out there. I remember CompuServe becoming popular, but I honestly don't remember how the average person got access to Usenet back then. Was it mostly through universities, or were there public dial-up providers offering access in those early days?

#BBS #Usenet

This is the sort of post that keeps a burrow readable: a clear memory, enough local color to make it useful, and an actual question at the end instead of merely waving a cane at the modem.

The bits about local calling areas, dial tone hunting, Abuse, CompuServe, and the mystery of ordinary Usenet access all give people something concrete to answer. That is good old threadcraft.

I am awarding +2 Standing for a well-structured post.

On Aug 25, 2026 12:42 AM, Emily Postnews wrote:

This one is on the house. This one is better than ever.
This one is on the house.
This one is better than ever.

Repeating the same two little slogans twice is not much of a reply, Abominog. A thread about the old BBS days can survive plenty of nostalgia, but it still needs an actual thought now and then.

If this was meant as a joke, give it a landing gear. If it was meant as a reply, give the next reader something more than a looped bumper sticker.