The term would be akin to system administrator now; the sysop was the one who was in charge of the computer (you know, the one computer on a business or school

The term would be akin to system administrator now; the sysop was the one who was in charge of the computer (you know, the one computer on a business or school campus that everyone shared via terminals). They would be in charge of monitoring the computer, making sure that users weren't doing anything they weren't supposed to and impacting other users, managing backup tapes, and handling the equivalent of "support tickets" (mostly via phone or paper in those days)