It was pretty amazing. I think my first BBS experience was around the time I was 13 so it would have been 93ish. I actually don't remember how I first got the p

It was pretty amazing. I think my first BBS experience was around the time I was 13 so it would have been 93ish. I actually don't remember how I first got the phone number for the BBS - that was the biggest barrier probably, to first get into a BBS you had to to know their phone number. Once you got logged into your first one they usually had a directory of other BBSs that you could check out. Anyway, that first BBS was probably my favorite, it was called USA BBS and was located somewhere in Central Arkansas, can't remember the exact location but it was an 800 number so I never got charged for using it, otherwise my parents would have killed me! I think they had around 8 lines so that's the total number of folks who could be on at one time and who might be in the general chat. I would usually hang out in chat for a few hours and people would log on and off throughout that time and stop in to chat. It was a wonderful experience for me, I met a lot of friends on that board. When the web started becoming a thing the BBS got a gateway to provide www access so it provided my first experience with websites too. It had a upload and download section as well and provided a lot of music, pictures and apps. I think some of the docs there gave me exposure to what Unix was and subsequently led me to buy my first 10 disc Linux set with early Slackware and Debian. I ran my own little BBS for a bit too so my friends and I could play tradewars and falcons eye. I always had to remember to turn the ringers in my parents room off before they went to bed otherwise if my dad got woken up he'd go mental.