It was quite common back then for BBSes to require your phone number and home address as part of the signup process. I don't remember anyone finding this unusua

It was quite common back then for BBSes to require your phone number and home address as part of the signup process. I don't remember anyone finding this unusual or complaining about it. Then again, people wrote into computer magazines and were fine with their addresses being published if they were seeking others with the same computer to contact them. The scene in general was very high trust. Even the pirate and phreak communities were generally trusting of members.