Did any of my visitors ever partake in the world of BBS’, or Bulletin Board Systems? For those not in the know, before the World Wide Web, and back when Internet access came via Lynx and had no images, there was still a method of what we geeks referred to as “going online”. A BBS was, for the most part, set up on a personal computer and attached, via modem, to a household phone line. The user would dial the phone number, connect to the computer through the modem, and then got to partake in a community of sorts – something like the Internet, but much smaller. Once in you could chat (if they had multiple phone lines), post messages, download files, and play online games complete with ASCII art (ha!).

Rob and I were regulars on Warped Minds before becoming Co-SysOps (Systems Operators) on Chaos Industries. We then decided, along with a couple others, to start our own and named it Cryptic Dimensions. It was intended to be a skinned BBS (now THERE’S something before it’s time – this was 1992/3) that would allow you to alter the appearance of it depending on your mood. Instead, it became a huge message and file destination until we got hacked by some punks in Brampton and Scarborough. My time with another BBS, T.E.A.M., also lead to my first “band” (for lack of a better word) that I’ve glossed over here before. Upon the advent of the World Wide Web, the Internet seemed to be a natural progression for most of us and BBS’, for the most part, disappeared. It’s a shame, too, because sometimes I do miss the smaller aspect of the “internet” back then. I remember how pumped I was the first time I got to converse with someone from the United States via the FidoNet, one of the first Internet newsgroups to be made available to local BBS’.

The moral of this story? I like stories. :)

Anyone else have BBS experience?