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RE: This looks like fun. Please allow me to introduce myself…
@davehitt Oh god I know that feeling. I remember US West charging $75 per line for our BBS, and we had 10 lines with 100 subscribers one day, then suddenly 10 lines and 2 subscribers the next month.
UP ALL NIGHT FTW!
You seem interesting. Upvoted and following you. Welcome to steemit!
I started with 8 lines and got it up to 21 when browsers hit. The phone company had to rewire my entire village because they only had eight spare lines when I started. My phone bill was $625 a month. (Sounds like you were paying three times more per line than I was.) There is still a thick 25 pair cable running from a telephone pole to my house, unused for 20+ years.
The internet was around, of course, but it was clumsy and ugly and hard to use. I figured people would use local BBSs for local things, and the internet for research, and I'd make a killing. One of the most popular features was your own internet email - people subscribed just for that.
The slogan was "The BBS for Grownups." You had to be 18 to sign up, and had to mail me proof you were 21 to get into the adult section, where you could spend an hour downloading two or three dirty gifs. Some subscribers spent all day downloading porn.
It was a great party. Every weekend there were two or three meets - some private, some public. I'd be monitoring chats on a Friday night, with nearly all the modems were flashing and getting hot, when someone in chat would say "Hey, let's all go to Fenders," a popular club in the area, and most of the modems would go dark as people headed out to meet up, which I thought was very cool.
There were at least three divorces and two marriages as a result of the place. A LOT of people got laid. It was a hell of a party for the four years it lasted.
Wish i could tell a story like that.
I got a one liner byline in boardwatch and had to upgrade in a hurry. US West wasnt in a big rush.
Anyways once the lines were in it was a nonstop dl session for most people.
We started with the concept of upload download matching which is where the name "up all night" came from.
Im right there with ya on the internet thing. Assumed it would be used for research. Figured bbs's would dominate forever.
We were wrong i guess. Might be fun to bring those days back though :)