1. Forum
  2. WhisperNet
  3. WEN-Joy of BBSing

  • Manual BBS

    From Sbaitso@316:36/40 to All on Fri Dec 25 11:18:10 2020
    This story was told to me by an old time Sysop. He saw an advertisement for
    a BBS back when they were extremely new, but it only listed a few hours a day of operation. I believe it was 7 - 10 pm. He assumed that it was a shared phone line which would explain the limited hours. One night he tried calling it and as text was slowly moving across the speed (at a very slow modem
    speed) he tried pressing ? or return to get to the help menu. The system replied "Yes?" He typed "Hello?" and got a response of "Yes? What would you like to do?". It turned out that it was a kid in their early teens who would use his fathers work computer each night. He didn't have any BBS software,
    but there was a terminal program. So each night he would start up the
    terminal program and sit there and wait for connections. He had a large bulletin board up on the wall next to the computer and a stack of index
    cards. He would write down "posts" and "emails" on the index cards, date
    them and hang them up on the wall. When someone called he would slowly type out the information on the cards.

    My friend never bothered connecting again, but I have to say that, if true, that had to be one of the most devoted Sysops on the planet. I often wonder
    if it was true and if the kid running it ever got BBS software, how long he
    was able to run it manually, etc.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Windows/32)
    * Origin: The Wrong Number Family Of BBS' - Wrong Number ][ (316:36/40)
  • From Bob Roberts@316:36/39 to Sbaitso on Sat Dec 26 13:59:25 2020
    connections. He had a large bulletin board up on the wall next to the computer and a stack of index cards. He would write down "posts" and "emails" on the index cards, date them and hang them up on the wall. When someone called he would slowly type out the information on the cards.

    Like Kramer pretending to be Moviephone!

    My friend never bothered connecting again, but I have to say that, if true, that had to be one of the most devoted Sysops on the planet. I often wonder if it was true and if the kid running it ever got BBS software, how long he was able to run it manually, etc.

    This is a good story, but I really can't think it's true. I mean... maybe. It's nice to think it was true. I seem a super basic BBS was built into one of the Terminal softwares back in the day. Maybe they ran that then broke into Chat. :-)

    Bob Roberts
    --- SBBSecho 3.11-Linux
    * Origin: Halls of Valhalla -=- Happy New Year (316:36/39)
  • From Sbaitso@316:36/40 to Bob Roberts on Sun Dec 27 11:09:50 2020
    Like Kramer pretending to be Moviephone!

    LOL! I completely forgot about that.

    This is a good story, but I really can't think it's true. I mean... maybe. It's nice to think it was true. I seem a super basic BBS was
    built into one of

    the Terminal softwares back in the day. Maybe they ran that then broke into Chat. :-)

    You're probably right. I enjoyed the story though and it was probably the
    type of thing I would have attempted given the chance. :)

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Windows/32)
    * Origin: The Wrong Number Family Of BBS' - Wrong Number ][ (316:36/40)
  • From Mantrid@316:77/1 to Bob Roberts on Sun Dec 27 21:31:32 2020
    Re: Manual BBS
    By: Bob Roberts to Sbaitso on Sat Dec 26 2020 01:59 pm

    Ha that story is amazing, the very best example of a mechanical turk in the wild I've ever heard!
    ----------------------
    United Kingdom BBS: ukbbs.zapto.org:64 (40cols) ukbbs.zapto.org:128 (80cols)

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ Stepping Stone BBS telnet://vintagebbsing.com:2023
    * Origin: Time Warp of the Future BBS - Home of League 10 (316:77/1)