You could also use Frontdoor and the like to run non-Fidonet message nets, I don't remember the terminology but my BBS was part of one. I made friends with a f

You could also use Frontdoor and the like to run non-Fidonet message nets, I don't remember the terminology but my BBS was part of one. I made friends with a fellow in Texas that claimed he had won a counter suit against AT&T for false phreaking charges and settled out of court for some number of years of free long distance. Because of this he would call my board and push me the mail from our other nodes every day and save me the money. Now that I'm older the story sounds implausible and I think the dude might have just been lonely. It was a lot of fun getting messages from boards in South Africa and other places every day. A very prominent HNer ran a BBS that was also a member of the network though I'm sure they wouldn't appreciate being outed! Such fun times. I used a mailer front end called Intermail, and I remember at age 15 it was unimaginably complicated to set up.