The breakthrough occurred around 1991. I started in ‘84 with a Hess modem and C64. I had the house and phone line to myself for 3 hrs after school. I was heavy

The breakthrough occurred around 1991. I started in ‘84 with a Hess modem and C64. I had the house and phone line to myself for 3 hrs after school. I was heavy into BBSing - I only called local/free BBSs in south New Jersey, but occasionally to Redding, Pa. most of the adults I met on BBSes then we’re in tech or worked for the phone company. I started trading warez on physical discs via UPS or having mom drive me to the next town where I would hop out of the backseat and hastily exchange a box of disks with an equally nerdy kid on the sidewalk. When I got back into BBSing on a Mac plus in ‘92, the experience was very different - it felt like a Cultural and tech evolution happening before your eyes. I would call ‘the gate’ and other prominent boards in SF area - that was where it was at.