RBBS used DOS files for user data, the filename was your username. So the limit for usernames in the software to sign up was 8 characters. But if you could get

RBBS used DOS files for user data, the filename was your username. So the limit for usernames in the software to sign up was 8 characters. But if you could get into the filesystem direct, and create your own user file, you could use the extension and have up to 11 characters (8.3); because it was liberal in what it read and strict in what it wrote. I'd pop up as "h2odragon" on people's boards and be there for a while before anybody noticed and said "hey wait WTF?"