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Pure Bollocks Issue 22_047
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B B S * B U L L S H I T
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[If you read this, then read my response in the next article! -EGBSS]
What ever happened to real bulletin-board systems?
First off, I'd like to make it perfectly clear that I cannot be objective
in these notes. These are observations, but they are from
1) a Sysop
2) a user of 8BBS, the greatest BBS ever evolved
3) a boy ... who's become a boyish programmer
4) an old timer....1977 was when I first started using BBS systems.
5) the author of a BBS system
If you're expecting objectivity, then don't bother reading on. I have
a rather unique perspective on the entire BBS scene. I've been around since
close to the beginning, and I'm wondering what has happened. Have BBS's gone
the way of CB? Is the entire system in a slump? Is there anything wrong at
all?
I'm going to try to present these questions and show how things have
changed...for the better, and for the worst.
HISTORY:
A long time ago, in a city far-far away, two men had an insight.
Ward Christensen and Randy Suess wanted a way to leave notes and messages to
their programmer/engineer friends. Back then, modems were used by field-
engineers and some high-level executives to talk to their companies
computers. A 300 baud modem was extremely fast, as most people were
using 110 baud TeleTypes. Ward and Randy devloped the concept of the BBS.
They called it CBBS, for "Computer Bulletin Board System." CBBS was the
first of its kind. It was an enormous program written in 8080 assmebly
language. By our standards today, it was kludgy and bug-ridden, but back
then it was heavenly. Users could enter messages and read messages... that
was about it.
CBBS was a wonderful concept, but it was localized to the Chicago area.
Ward and Randy were the only ones who were running the program. Then Bill
Blue came along and wrote ABBS, which was designed to "emulate" the CBBS
system. I feel it was ABBS, rather than CBBS which made the real
breakthrough. While ABBS was much less powerful, and more difficult to
use, it could be run on a "universal" machine: --The Apple ][--
Anyone with an Apple ][ and a D.C. Hayes MM][ modem could run ABBS.
This program could be installed in a matter of minutes, and anyone
could have their own bulletin board system. Soon after the release of ABBS,
several other BBS programs (for various computers) soon followed. ABBS
was the king for many years, just because there were more ABBS systems than
any other BBS program available.
It is this time that I would like to refer to as the "Golden age of the
BBS." It wasn't as golden as you might think. Most Sysops would come home
every evening from work to find that their BBS had crashed because of yet
another bug. Even back then, user's logged in under false names and left
obscene messages.
The one point that made that age golden was the users. Without
users, a BBS is just a program. With users, it gains a personality, and if
I may be metaphysical, a soul. The users MAKE the BBS. A Sysop may have
the greatest BBS program in the world, but without active users, he just has
a computer wasting line-current.
LIFE IN THE "GOLDEN AGE"
* A user would think nothing of spending his Saturday helping "The
Sysop" find an intermittant bug in the BBS program.
* A user would not only answer his or HER mail, but also butt into
other people's conversations and throw in his/her two cents worth.
* A user would suggest improvements to make the system easier to use.
* A Sysop would care for his BBS like a baby. He'd spend 2 hours
each night writing messages and playing with modifications to the
program.
* A Sysop would NOT restrict conversation to one particular
topic...such as CP/M software.
* A Sysop would tolerate kids who were just learning how to use
modems. He'd even give them a hand getting things working.
* A Sysop would [on his own preference] dilligently weed out obscene or
"pseudo-illegal" messages, -- or -- promote them as he saw fit.
* Users would start clubs, such as the well known "Gabber Gang"
and later the infamous "Phone Phriekers" who figured so prominently
into BBS history.
* The government didn't try to restrict BBS users. It was just
"us" against tyranny (at that time "Ma Bell"). Although most users
did not approve of "Phone Phrieking", everyone talked about it, and
was interested in it for curiosity sake if nothing else. [Hard to
believe, but true.]
* Uploading and downloading of programs did not exist.
* BBS's were few and far between. When I wrote the OxGate, the two
closest other CP/M based machines were Kelly Smith in Simi Valley
(375 miles away), and "Jim C" in Larkspur (100 miles away). People
tended to congregate on the local system.
WHAT HAS KILLED BBS SYSTEMS:
1) Program uploading and downloading. People just get their programs and
leave.
2) The technical clique's retaliation against "gabbers" who just used the
systems for personal communication.
3) Too many BBS systems in one area. BBS's are still alive and healthy in
low-density areas.
4) The loss of "anonimity" among BBS users. The BBS used to be the place
to escape. Where no one had to be "themselves." Users such as "James
Bond" and "Captain Scarlet" were given free reign to vent their
fantasies. Today, most systems do not allow false names so they remove
them straight away.
5) The anti-hacker movement. More and more people today think the word
"hacker" means "phone phriek/computer crasher." All it ever meant was
"great programmer." You would feel proud if someone labeled you a
"hacker."
6) The press' ignorance of the BBS community. By trying to make a scandal
out of all of it, they ruined a great form of communication. In
particular, the magazine "InfoWorld" has done more harm to the BBS
community than other press organization. While they actively TRIED to
HELP the community, they have caused more harm in their mis-reporting
of info.
7) Sysop's ignorance. Quite frankly, the average quality of "Sysop" has
dropped. Sysop's are (on the whole) less active and less responsive
than 5 years ago. More and more of them are technically incompetent,
they couldn't fix a bug if it bit them in the nose.
All of these problems are inter-related. We can't solve any of them until
all of them are solved. From my descriptions it should be obvious that
the "golden age" certainly wasn't all gold. People like "James Bond"
and "Sam Daniels" had to be stopped, but the pendulum has swung too far
to the opposite side.
These observations are very general. I've noticed this swing, and it has
taken place on 95% of all of the system's I've called across America. It's
sad that these problems have stabbed us in the back, but it's not too late to
try and bring about a change. I don't have the answers, but maybe these
observations will prompt thought into this death of a virtual "art
form" of communication.
There is one possible solution to this problem... the acceptance of children
again. For too long we've been kicking off kids (both phyiscal and "kids
at heart"). They've been disruptive, and caused fights galore. Many
have even tried to crash the systems they used.
"If there's any hope, it lies with the proles."
-- George Orwell, "1984"
Perhaps the thing to do is call a few local Commodore and Apple boards and
let the users know that they're just as welcome on your super-fancy 100mb
2400 baud RCP/M system as any of your so- called "serious users" . . . "serious
users" who can't even bring themselves to answer their own mail. Saddening.
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