IEEE Spectrum November, 2016 - 59
It's tempting to imagine that these
gateways introduced BBS users to the
Internet. But the Internet at that point
held no particular appeal for most BBS
users, who were already enmeshed in
their own lively online worlds. The early
Internet was limited to people with access
to a large university or research center,
whereas BBSs were open to anyone. As
a result, they could be wacky and weird-
independent free agents in cyberspace.
Indeed, it may be more accurate to say
that gateways exposed the relatively staid
Internet to the wild ways of BBSers.
As the 1980s passed into the
1990s, falling prices for computers
as well as the availability of used PCs
allowed many more people to start using
the technology. Modems also shifted
from an expensive option to a standard
component on new PCs. As these barriers to participation fell, a wave of new
recruits came online, and the culture
of BBSing began to reflect their more
diverse interests. Teens, educators, artists, and entrepreneurs joined the growing population of BBS hosts and users.
Hundreds of BBSs appeared in the
late 1980s and early 1990s to serve particular communities and interests. The
Batboard in Columbia, Mo., was dedicated to all things Batman, for example, while the Complete Baseball BBS in
Cambridge, Mass., featured a different
sort of bat. Followers of the Grateful Dead
("deadheads") arranged tape trades and
carpooling on the WELL in Sausalito,
Calif., and hard-core gamers exchanged
homemade Doom levels on Software Creations in Clinton, Mass. The Back Door in
San Francisco supported a lively LGBT
community, while the Backdraft in Key
Largo, Fla., provided a meeting place
for firefighters. The Christian-themed
Winplus in Kent, Wash., and the paganoriented Brewer's Witch in Houston were
both well known for their friendly off-line
get-togethers, while DharmaNet linked
up hundreds of Buddhist BBSs.
Free from the staggering size and profit
imperative of commercial services, such
small-scale community-oriented BBSs
were sites of experimentation. Given the
preponderance of men in the early BBS
culture, many sysops endeavored to create welcoming environments for the rel-
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum November, 2016
IEEE Spectrum November, 2016 - Cover1
IEEE Spectrum November, 2016 - Cover2
IEEE Spectrum November, 2016 - 1
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IEEE Spectrum November, 2016 - Cover3
IEEE Spectrum November, 2016 - Cover4
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