2 ms·
I lived in the middle of nowhere in small farming town and the BBS scene really saved me when I was a kid. I had clear opinions about BBS software and Renegade
by jesse_dot_id 7mo ago
I lived in the middle of nowhere in small farming town and the BBS scene really saved me when I was a kid. I had clear opinions about BBS software and Renegade was always my favorite. I always considered Wildcat to be boring looking and for old people. I think it was just that all of the Wildcat boards in my area were run by boring graybeards.
Every board in my area (not many) served a text file called The Alchemist's List — a huge list of regional boards — and it was absolutely responsible for a lot of very contentious long distance bills. Sometimes I miss the simplicity of that time but I do not miss the UX.
The ANSI art scene is still alive and kicking. Still my favorite style of art. https://www.instagram.com/explore/search/keyword/?q=%23ansiart https://www.instagram.com/explore/search/keyword/?q=%23ansia...
- TurkTurkleton 7mo agoAs I recall, Wildcat was one of the more expensive BBS packages that was still within reach of hobbyist budgets--I want to say a license for a single-digit number of nodes was between $200 and $300 in mid-90s dollars (around $450-$650 in 2026 dollars)--so it's not surprising that it would have been mostly older people running it. IIRC, it was pretty popular where I grew up, and the demographics in that area definitely skewed a bit older.