Back then the cost of calling depended on the distance. Calling numbers in your local municipality was affordable, a little more expensive in your region, and v

Back then the cost of calling depended on the distance. Calling numbers in your local municipality was affordable, a little more expensive in your region, and very expensive for long distance calls. Thus people preferred to call BBS:es closest to them which made the community more local. Back in the early 90's the number of BBS:es was massive and there were several in my 20k city. I spent some time trolling by registering and pretending to be some famous tech journalist but eventually got banned from many BBS:es. :)