[OT] Why are BBSes? [was Where's the junk coming from?]

[Avon]

On 06/28/18, Grant Edwards pondered and said...
 
 GE> OK, I've got to ask...
 GE> Why are there still BBSes?
 GE> 
 GE> Who even has a modem these days?  [OK, I'll admit my 11 year old
 GE> Thinkpad T500 has a built-in POTS modem, but it's never been used.]

Hi Grant.

How long do you have? :)

Most BBS are connected using the internet these days and mostly run for fun,
nostalgic and curiosity reasons by former and new sysops. Most systems don't
enjoy the caller numbers of the heyday 1990s but rather are largely used by
the sysop to engage in message networks and the BBS community that exists in
2018.

I was a former sysop in my 20s in the 1990s and got back in to it around
2013. What I have found is that the scene is again growing, mostly due to
nostalgia, but also out of a desire to escape big-brother social media e.g
Facebook.

People also like the simple UI for reading messages etc.

As to the how... well, messages / files etc. are now largely sent via the
internet not POTS (plain old telephone) and BinkP is a popular protocol using
port 24554.

BBS software is still under active development by a few authors who have kept
their offerings in step with 2018. So I use Mystic BBS (mysticbbs.com) and
you will see it offers a bunch of services and runs on Linux, Windows,
Raspberry Pi. I also run a message network called fsxNet (fun, simple,
experimental network) that has nodes in USA, New Zealand, Europe, Asia etc.
you can find out more by heading to bbs.nz or download an infopack at
bbs.nz/fsxnet.zip. Lastly info about setting up Mystic can be found on a
YouTube channel I set up called Mystic Guy (there ends the sales pitch :))

Other developers of BBS software active in 2018 include Synchronet BBS, now
offerings including Magicka BBS, Enigma1/2 BBS... and WWIV is still about too.

Hope that helps, perhaps intrigues you further. I'm happy to answer any
questions and/or offer support to folks interested in this stuff. Python is
being added to Mystic as a scripting tool by the author at the moment so this
newsgroup / mail list is of interest to a bunch of folks :)

Best, Paul