BBS Wiki
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Welcome to the BBS Wiki.

What is a BBS?[]

BBS stands for Bulletin Board System. In the BBS days hobbyists ran computers dedicated to letting other hobbyists dial in to exchange messages, download software and perform other functions of the BBS software. What was needed was (usually) a dedicated PC, a modem and a phone line. Communities formed around these BBSes and a lot of people have good memories of this time. The rise of dial-up Internet made almost all of these stop. There are a few BBSes left who now can be visited via the Internet.

What is here[]

Lots of people who ran or visited BBSes have already contributed their knowledge of the BBSes: all pages in the category BBS. Add your story!

Let's not forget the software that ran the BBSes: all pages in the category BBS Software or the networks that were formed: all pages in the category Bbs networks.

About this Wiki[]

The BBS Wiki is a project to document everything related to BBSes. This is a wiki, so anyone can create or edit a page. So far we have created 262 articles. For the basics on editing, you can refer to "how to edit a page" on Wikipedia. One of the easiest ways to contribute is by making an article about your area code's BBS scene, favorite BBS, or BBS software!

Many of the articles currently consist of material from Jason Scott's BBS Documentary library and timeline, used with permission. The content has been wikified with the intent that other users contribute and expand what is already there; the BBS Documentary material is only meant as a foundation to get this wiki started.

TIP: Unless the BBS wiki's entry on a particular subject is going to be more specific than Wikipedia's entry on the subject we should try to link directly to the Wikipedia article by linking like this: Wikipedia:FOO versus just linking to FOO, that way we don't duplicate efforts.

A note about phone numbers[]

This wiki and linked bbslists list phone numbers once allocated to BBSes, but now probably all reallocated to people who don't know how to whistle modem sounds or who don't expect phone calls at strange times.

BBS information sources[]

  • textfiles.com is a vast collection of BBS history that can provide an excellent foundation for new wiki articles. Writing articles about topics covered in the textfiles.com collection is encouraged, rather than simply copying the textfiles into the wiki.
  • bbslist.textfiles.com Jason Scott's North American BBS List includes well over 100,000 BBSes in the US and Canada.
  • Break Into Chat is a BBS wiki specializing in BBS door games.
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