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> I came from the BBS era before Usenet Unless you were dialing up to CBBS between 1978-1980, i.e. the only BBS in the world at the time, then USENET predates

> I came from the BBS era before Usenet Unless you were dialing up to CBBS between 1978-1980, i.e. the only BBS in the world at the time, then USENET predates your BBS era, which I would assume like most is really somewhere between 1984-1994, even if BBS existed prior to then and after then.

matt_heimer 4y ago
In practice I think access to BBS systems came before Usenet for many of us. I didn't have Usenet access until I had internet access (through a BBS). And I didn't have a good nntp server until I had a dedicated ISP many years after accessing dialup, non-internet BBS systems. I remember reporting a PINE newsgroup thread bug at the height of my nntp usage and several of the local BBS systems had started dying off by then.
- smcameron 4y ago
  The opposite is also true for many, namely, lots of university students who were on usenet in the computer labs, and maybe had a TRS-80 in the dorm connected to nothing.
- rnxrx 4y ago
  There were also a number of Usenet <-> FidoNet/echomail gateways. This was especially useful for local BBS users that weren’t affiliated with any university computing facilities.
- ghaff 4y ago
  Yes, PC-based BBS systems BBS systems were quite widespread going back to at least the early eighties. (BBSs existed before that but were often pretty primitive--e.g. a personal computer with a floppy drive and a 300 baud modem. You had a sort of parallel version of Usenet because in addition to the local BBS you had PCRelay, FIDOnet, and possibly other message exchanges between systems. Especially the commercial BBSs could have quite a few systems and phone lines and, as you say the bigger BBSs often became the first ISP that consumers had access to if they didn't have access through their company or university. You also had the big commercial services like Compuserve, AOL, Bix, Delphi, and so forth.
GekkePrutser 4y ago
That's true but the BBSes were available to anyone with the money for a computer, modem and the phone bill. Usenet and the internet was reserved for the chosen few. So in that sense BBSes would predate Usenet for most people. I got Usenet access before I got full internet (even dialup) in fact but it was much later, in the mid 90s, using a really expensive UUCP account.
elzbardico 4y ago
For most people outside universities, BBSes came first for all practical purposes.

matt_heimer 4y ago

In practice I think access to BBS systems came before Usenet for many of us. I didn't have Usenet access until I had internet access (through a BBS). And I didn't have a good nntp server until I had a dedicated ISP many years after accessing dialup, non-internet BBS systems. I remember reporting a PINE newsgroup thread bug at the height of my nntp usage and several of the local BBS systems had started dying off by then.

smcameron 4y ago
The opposite is also true for many, namely, lots of university students who were on usenet in the computer labs, and maybe had a TRS-80 in the dorm connected to nothing.
rnxrx 4y ago
There were also a number of Usenet <-> FidoNet/echomail gateways. This was especially useful for local BBS users that weren’t affiliated with any university computing facilities.
ghaff 4y ago
Yes, PC-based BBS systems BBS systems were quite widespread going back to at least the early eighties. (BBSs existed before that but were often pretty primitive--e.g. a personal computer with a floppy drive and a 300 baud modem. You had a sort of parallel version of Usenet because in addition to the local BBS you had PCRelay, FIDOnet, and possibly other message exchanges between systems. Especially the commercial BBSs could have quite a few systems and phone lines and, as you say the bigger BBSs often became the first ISP that consumers had access to if they didn't have access through their company or university. You also had the big commercial services like Compuserve, AOL, Bix, Delphi, and so forth.

GekkePrutser 4y ago

That's true but the BBSes were available to anyone with the money for a computer, modem and the phone bill. Usenet and the internet was reserved for the chosen few. So in that sense BBSes would predate Usenet for most people. I got Usenet access before I got full internet (even dialup) in fact but it was much later, in the mid 90s, using a really expensive UUCP account.

elzbardico 4y ago

For most people outside universities, BBSes came first for all practical purposes.