Bulletin Board System (BBS) - The Internet's First Community

Bulletin Board Systems were the primary method of getting online for almost 20 years. Created in 1979 by Randy Suess and Ward Christensen, a dedicated group of computer hackers and content creators picked up this obscure hobby and founded the first ever publicly accessible online community.
We had planned several videos of fascinating communities for 2020... then Covid-19 changed the world. But, through the early lockdowns we became aware of the largest group of communities in the world: the internet. But, before we get there, we must first explore the internet's FIRST communities.
Special thanks to Jason Scott Sadofsky
Music by:
Robert Pirogovsky
Zack Baltich ( / @zackbaltich )
and Feather Thief ( / @featherthief1045 )
Everyone seems to know of a unique location for us to explore next. Let us know YOURS at: www.offthecuf.com/whereshould...
Chris: chrisparr21
Harris: harry_d_
Off the Cuf: flutterbrothers_offthecuf
offthecuf.com
Join our Patreon: / offthecuf

[@omerosaienni9857]

I created a BBS in South Africa called Clan of the Claw. Did it on the weekend when I was meant to study for an exam. I had some of the basics set up. I got me connected to mail distribution. I am no artist. One day one of the users logged on and gave me free ANSI themed art. Was awesome and forever thankful. My BBS still lives on a floppy disc.

[@discgolftrainnut]

A friend ran the local PC Users Group BBS back in the 880s. I printed the monthly newsletter on an original IBM PC using Wordstar combined with Pfont and an Epson FX80 dot matrix printer. I later used that system to publish a weekly newspaper.

[@bioskahabinivous9906]

In today's world, it would be those boring graphical social medias. BBS should made a come back. Also, Ceefax

[@Bendaak]

I am still an active BBS poster in 2021 on my trusty ‘84 Macintosh. The communities are no longer local but they are still small… it’s the kind of experience you can’t get on the modern internet as you really get the opportunity to know people as they’re able to discuss various broad subjects.

[@ghostroman7431]

which do you frequent?

[@Bendaak]

@@ghostroman7431 I go onto a larger network called DOVE-NET through the Amstrad BBS. I also frequently log into Level-29 which is the r/retrobattlestations official BBS and Captains Quarters. There are a few more I like to visit on occasion also.

[@thelegend8570]

Losing that local aspect is sad though, I feel like the modern internet doesn't have enough of a connection to the "real" world anymore.

[@MeaTLoTioN]

Nice video sir, it's nice to see the younger generation actively wanting to find out about BBS and the such. The community that BBS has world wide is still very much alive, and it would be great to see it growing faster and faster.

[@TheCoderCoder]

Oh my god blast from the past. I set up and ran a bulletin board in middle school. It ran on Renegade, and I printed out the entire manual on my dad's dot matrix printer. The best part were all the amazing ASCII games: Legend of the Red Dragon, Trade Wars, the Pit, and my personal favorite, Overkill 2 (OOII). So many good memories!

[@mekon1971]

Loved Trade Wars. Ran it on a WWIV BBS. Precurser to Eve Online.

[@tealover70]

You look young.. I guess the saying Asians don’t raisin is true.

[@martin1b]

Those were good days. LOTS of file sharing, not just messaging. Always enjoyed a board meet-up and meeting the people on the other side of the screen.

[@moonflower6607]

MP3 existed then?

[@martin1b]

@@moonflower6607 Nope. No MP3s.

[@moonflower6607]

@@martin1b how was file sharing possible then?

[@martin1b]

@@moonflower6607 That was a big part of BBSs. You'd upload a file to the BBS to get download credits. Once approved, you could download other user's uploads. BBSs were similar to a massive dropbox or google drive. Also, on meet ups, use a laplink cable.

[@Kodeb8]

So the first BBS was made by someone who was stuck in his house and wanted to find a way to pass the time... Not much has changed.

[@OfftheCuff_Series]

Very good point 😂

[@gottanikoncamera]

As a Twenty-Something in the 80s, I was a frequent visitor of BBS’s. They weren’t the Internet, just a loose conglomeration of individual hubs, usually run on someone’s extra computer in the basement. They were primarily local because you dialed in through your phone line (not the Net) and you would accrue long distance charges if you dialed up a BBS outside of your area. It was all text interactions though after a time someone figured out how to encode images as text which users could then “unpack” into a photo. Great times. Thanks for the memory.

[@Malryth]

Lot's of good memories up here in Canada. A friend of mine was running a BBS in his home in the 80's and he had told me about a few others in the same town. Much like that pizza story, it was odd yet satisfying to physically meet someone who you only knew as an alias nickname. The carrier tone negotiating sound was the most magical sound there was back in the "dial up days". Good video. Thanks. :)

[@VersedNJ]

Had a Wildcat! BBS called CasablancaBBS from the late 80's to the 90s, had 3 lines, it was fun. People dialed in from all over US, Canada and Europe,

[@itsnotme07]

Cool info! Didn't know where the first BBS came from. Experienced many in the Boston area from the early 80's to mid 90's. Met lots of cool people because of the "BBS meetups" at local malls around Boston.

[@spongebobsquarepants4576]

I like how 30% of this video is explaining to us what is the internet. Thanks!

[@Consequential]

Maaaan, memories. I was on a BBS as a kid in the early 90s. I remember the meetups, and everything, and playing Mutants... a lot. ❤️

[@brycem9180]

I remember my brothers playing on the bbs! They would write games and share them to get other games people created!

[@OfftheCuff_Series]

Very cool, do you remember what any of the games were called?

[@brycem9180]

@@OfftheCuff_Series I don't recall but it was a street fighter version, but they were stick figures! Cool stuff back then!

[@admrsh]

@@brycem9180 pretty cool

[@BeeRich33]

I was on Fido. Also, CI$. Fido would break due to irresponsible members in the echoes, such as the Detroit-Windsor gateway. Later, was a beta tester for FirstClass software on MAGIC in Toronto. Started with a Zoom 2400 on my Mac SE.

[@MNDooD]

Great video, and channel! So great to see fellow Minnesotan's putting out phenomenal content. Keep up the great work!

[@paullee107]

Great content, loves the JS interview and your use of sound and media. Thanks.

[@OfftheCuff_Series]

Much appreciated!

[@captnjaygreybeard6394]

Love all those old video clips, great information too

[@OfftheCuff_Series]

More to come! We're glad you enjoyed it.

[@theawesomer]

Another great video. Really enjoying your channel!

[@OfftheCuff_Series]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@yojon75]

Yo, I saw your stuff on Amazon prime. Good job getting that deal guys hope it brings in more.

[@OfftheCuff_Series]

Hey thanks for coming here to KZbin. Hope you enjoy what you see!

[@loosingmymemory7]

I remember using a program to auto dial entire prefixes and detect a connect signal, but you would get into trouble if you did it sequentially, so it had to be random but never the same number twice. You could find tons of cool equipment, and the first 0 day was sending a sequence of characters that gave you a prompt where you could then send a binary and execute. Cool stuff!

[@Sal.K--BC]

I used BBS's in the late 80s & early 90s.

[@moonflower6607]

did you ever use any online services? (prodigy, AOL, compuserve, GEnie, Quantum Link)

[@Sal.K--BC]

@@moonflower6607 nope. Never did. Got dial up internet in the early 90s. Then got cable internet in 94 or 95.

[@yodingdongyo]

The University of Phoenix's first Online programs were on a quasi BBS called ALEX (Apollo Learning Exchange) where you would download the classroom interaction in a DOS program then reply to what you needed to reply to and upload text-based papers, connect to a server in San Francisco and upload/download your data. Your instructors and classmates would see it when they connected, uploaded/downloaded.

[@Sohailali1]

I loved learning and I tried to run my own phpbb. Loved learning and managing. good times.

[@slowneutron6163]

It's all I did in the 80s. Smoke dope and BBS. Now I'm 50 and all I do is smoke dope and watch videos about BBSing by some kid who uses background music by a guy who ripped off DEVO's "Gut Feeling". I supposed somehow he saw fit to lay claim to it. Yeah, I like being 50. Signed, Hayes 1200 Baud Modem Having MOFO.

[@majid7925]

Great video i really like it and it helps to understand what the internet is!

[@OfftheCuff_Series]

Majid, thanks for the comment! I’m glad that this video helped you gain a greater understanding of the internet :)

[@ProvenScroll]

These videos are so underrated!

[@KyleInfinity]

You guys should have more views. Quality content!

[@OfftheCuff_Series]

We'll get there!

[@paullee107]

Did he really flash 'buy us' at the BIOS reference?? lol. Nice video, thanks!

[@Hollowdude15]

Cool video😊

[@danpolk]

Fantastic video.

[@OfftheCuff_Series]

Thanks Dan! It was a really fun quarantine project

[@soldad0ryan]

Excelent!

[@automaetopia]

Beautiful

[@OfftheCuff_Series]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@williamhead5649]

Very good

[@OfftheCuff_Series]

Thanks!

[@eduardmart1237]

But how one modem can answer a lot of people simultaneously? Were they bbs server connected through a special expensive multichannel modems? Or used special telephone lines? what were the popular server side bbs servers? Was there any popular

[@tiaxanderson9725]

Since no one answered; "But how one modem can answer a lot of people simultaneously?" It can't, just like how you couldn't call if someone used the internet back then, so couldn't you connect to a BBS that already had a user logged in via the telephone network. Remember, these were mostly just someone's personal PC running in a room somewhere, with a modem, and the telephone network connected. "Were they bbs server connected through a special expensive multichannel modems? Or used special telephone lines?" I'm not familiar with 'special telephone lines', but school universities, businesses, and a few individuals did have multiple phone lines, so for those unique cases (mostly later in the BBS era) multiple users could log in on the same BBS. "what were the popular server side bbs servers?" Not sure what you mean by that. BBSes were primarily run on home computers so none of it were 'server side' or all of them since the home computer acted as a 'server'. If you mean what was popular BBS server software; the Wikipedia page mentions RBBS-PC and Fido BBS.

[@bioskahabinivous9906]

0:34 Samßung got an inspiration: the Galaxy fold

[@Skousen77]

I got my first email address via an BBS in the early 90s.

[@TheRootBeerKing]

Was part two never released?

[@andrewphi4958]

That was random... and ended a bit abruptly. But I like it.

[@radeonblue1816]

I read about 'Bulletin Board system' in 'The hacker crackdown'..... After reading for a while I want to try it on my windows pc. Please help.

[@darkmooninc]

"JIFS" Stands for Jraphics Interchange Format.

[@ctcards2636]

Im trying to find active BBS's in Connecticut , i found a list of numbers but most are no longer online. I have a HP Jornada 680e that ive installed PocketDOS on utilizing the 6.22 version of DOS. But also in Windows CE, there is a terminal program for doing this exact thing. But im going old school and trying to get stuff working that i grew up on. I have a 14.4 model, id love to put to use and find an active BBS here in my state. If anyone knows, please reply. What im mainly looking for is a BBS that has news to read.

[@morningjacket8249]

Is Part 2 available?

[@OfftheCuff_Series]

Here you go :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3vVYoyEhtClp6M

[@morningjacket8249]

@@OfftheCuff_Series appreciate it brother

[@radstorm]

My beginnings were the BBS, then Compuserve, then the WBS (Webchat Broadcasting System) and people got along with each other (imagine that) after that and when "profiles' began..people started becoming all about themselves and it all went downhill..first was an Atari that got me interested in a keyboard, then commodore Vic 20 which started my outside world, then the 64, then a PC Jr..god I hated that thing .. lol

[@enragedbutterfly]

Man I miss the ASCII art, playing LORD, Major MUD games and colorful menus. I don’t miss my 2400 baud modem. 🤮

[@aciid5277]

This channel is underrated

[@shawnvideos]

Shout-out to High-water Mark BBS and playing Tele-arena and Trade Wars 2002

[@tonysolar284]

I was there.

[@h.Freeman]

I still see he's using that old 1990s potato

[@bitasaur]

this channel is so good and only has 20k subscribers

[@OfftheCuff_Series]

Well gee thanks :-)

[@bitasaur]

@@OfftheCuff_Series you get a lot of compliments lol

[@TokyoChopSquad]

I'm a product of BBS...

[@drhazlan67]

5.58 Beagle Bros.

[@Hollowdude15]

Wow

[@udaikcsps9299]

it reminds me of ptt bbs taiwan

[@cdnshooter]

Ran many BBSes Wizards Den, Gates of Hell & TradeNet BBS 416/905 Area Code. BBSes were much better than the crazy internet.

[@TL....]

untouchables, beyond akira, deadline - RZR/RiSC/AMN

[@stephenwalters9891]

The audio at 8min in is terrible

[@surject]

Part 2? 8-/

[@mattvideoeditor]

Anyone with information from the Alphanet community in Brazil around 1994/1996 please reach out

[@lq01]

5:21

[@Mondegreen2020]

Crypto/blockchain is at a similar early point of its existence.

[@jackson5116]

All the WWW did was take the BBS idea and make it expansive through IP.

[@kevinrush6998]

Save some time, the video starts at about 4:00

[@AWayOfLiving84]

☯️🌍🕵🏻‍♂️🌌

[@resonanz6496]

If you liked this movie you might also like this chat movie that we've just released: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eXrKgGSonK6bY5I

[@PracticalAI_]

I found my first girlfriend on a bbs in a small town in italy… she was also super good looking, lol what are the probability ?

[@Mondegreen2020]

I just don't think this internet thing will take off. It seems really complicated & I honestly don't see a future for it.

[@OfftheCuff_Series]

😂

[@SN0WMAN27]

The audio is worse then a 300 baud modem

[@OfftheCuff_Series]

Haha yeah... it was over video chat sorry about that

[@odditypardonme]

You lost me when you said "jif."

[@odditypardonme]

I'm only kidding though. Very informative so far. Much obliged!

[@dylannix4289]

Only read BBS and instantly thought it was gonna be about tuner cars, pleasantly surprised with the internet history lesson I got instead

[@hubert9841]

damn i hate modern internet