What did forums look like back in the days?

[TommyVercetti]

What did forums look like back in the 80's, when people were running BBS' and what not. I know there were discussion boards back then too. What did they look like, and where can I find some screenshots.

 

[jfall]

lol the memories, I use to connect to quite a few local BBS's back in the day with the ole 2400 baud modem. Even the Ascii pictures loaded slow back then

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: jfall
lol the memories, I use to connect to quite a few local BBS's back in the day with the ole 2400 baud modem. Even the Ascii pictures loaded slow back then

Back when people didn't know the difference between baud and bps? Oh wait, they still don't.

I only used a BBS one time, don't really remember it. USENET was sweet back in the day though.

 

[Salvador]

I basically used a phone back in those days.

Sal

 

[bootymac]

There was internet in the 80's!!! WHOA!!!

<--- born in 88

 

[Kenny]

I don't know about the 80s (born in 84) but when I first started using forums, I used BBS.

My email address was something like t60@victoria.bc.bbs.otherstuff.net

Longest email address I've ever had.

The BBS looked like total crap. I used lynx.

 

[Marauder-]

I didn't have an email address then but I did use the FidoNet mail system that BBS systems had. Essentially - all your posts would be batched along w/ everyone elses and sent to the next hub during specific intervals of the day. You would usually get responses back about 2-3 days later.

Oh yeah, anyone remember, BRE, LORD, or UTOPIA? (Barren Realms Elite, Legend of the Red Dragon, Utopia)

2001 posts - BOO YA!

 

[Medea]

You could d/l files off of a lot of BBS' and, like mugsy said, USENET was great. You had a relatively small group of people online then, and netiquette was a BIG thing. Remember ARCHIE and VERONICA? Ahhh, the memories...

 

[TommyVercetti]

Originally posted by: Marauder-
I didn't have an email address then but I did use the FidoNet mail system that BBS systems had. Essentially - all your posts would be batched along w/ everyone elses and sent to the next hub during specific intervals of the day. You would usually get responses back about 2-3 days later.

Oh yeah, anyone remember, BRE, LORD, or UTOPIA? (Barren Realms Elite, Legend of the Red Dragon, Utopia)

2001 posts - BOO YA!

OMG, YAGT like "Hot chick in computer lab, what can I do" must be totally useless if it took so long.

 

[fyleow]

I remember my brother playing LORD, that game owned

 

[ThaGrandCow]

Originally posted by: Marauder-
I didn't have an email address then but I did use the FidoNet mail system that BBS systems had. Essentially - all your posts would be batched along w/ everyone elses and sent to the next hub during specific intervals of the day. You would usually get responses back about 2-3 days later.

Oh yeah, anyone remember, BRE, LORD, or UTOPIA? (Barren Realms Elite, Legend of the Red Dragon, Utopia)

2001 posts - BOO YA!

Ursuper baby!!! Yeah! Lord rocked too

 

[yoda291]

Ah the good old days, where there were no ads on the side.

 

[Spoooon]

Originally posted by: Marauder-
I didn't have an email address then but I did use the FidoNet mail system that BBS systems had. Essentially - all your posts would be batched along w/ everyone elses and sent to the next hub during specific intervals of the day. You would usually get responses back about 2-3 days later.

Oh yeah, anyone remember, BRE, LORD, or UTOPIA? (Barren Realms Elite, Legend of the Red Dragon, Utopia)

2001 posts - BOO YA!

I used to play Legend of the Red Dragon. There were a few other BBS games that I played, but I can't remember them.

 

[Marauder-]

Originally posted by: ThaGrandCow

Originally posted by: Marauder-
I didn't have an email address then but I did use the FidoNet mail system that BBS systems had. Essentially - all your posts would be batched along w/ everyone elses and sent to the next hub during specific intervals of the day. You would usually get responses back about 2-3 days later.

Oh yeah, anyone remember, BRE, LORD, or UTOPIA? (Barren Realms Elite, Legend of the Red Dragon, Utopia)

2001 posts - BOO YA!

Ursuper baby!!! Yeah! Lord rocked too

Oh yeah - it was called Usurper! Killing monsters and hookers, taking drugs, all while trying to gain experience and find a safe place to sleep for the night.

Utopia is actually more recent but just as addictive.

 

[Zugzwang152]

Originally posted by: bootymac
There was internet in the 80's!!! WHOA!!!

<--- born in 88

holy sh!t, and i thought i was a young'un :Q

 

[Hossenfeffer]

Originally posted by: jfall
lol the memories, I use to connect to quite a few local BBS's back in the day with the ole 2400 baud modem. Even the Ascii pictures loaded slow back then

I was lovin' my 300 baud modem. Then my dad shelled out $700 for a brand-spankin' new 1200 baud hayes modem for his business.

 

[vegetation]

BBS's usually had a forum area, some of which would receive worldwide message feeds, like fidonet. Keep in mind these were not in real-time, the bbs would up/down load its data once a night usually. A file area existed to exchange programs, most of which were pirated stuff, but also porn (320x200 16 color = not realistic), online games, local email exchange, polls/voting, and of course you could always try to chat with the sysop. Some larger systems had multi lines so you could chat with others online at the same time.

 

[chiwawa626]

Blast from the past?

ARCHIVED ORIGINAL ANANDTECH FORUMS

 

[Triumph]

Usenet used to be awesome, then the porn spam people discovered it, began stealing email addies from users, and spamming the hell out of the boards and the users. I think at that point everyone left.