Get the latest tech news

My secret life as an 11-year-old BBS sysop (2022)


Revisiting the wonder and betrayal of online life circa 1992.

In January 1992, my dad brought home a gateway to a parallel world: a small black plexiglass box labeled "ZOOM" that hooked to a PC's serial port. Whereas the Internet is a huge connected web of systems with billions of users, most BBSes were small hobbyist fiefdoms with a single phone line, and only one person could call in and use it at a time. Not long after my dad brought home the modem, he handed off a photocopied list that included hundreds of BBS numbers from our 919 area code in North Carolina.

Get the Android app

Or read this on Hacker News

Read more on:

Photo of Year

Year

Photo of secret life

secret life

Photo of old BBS sysop

old BBS sysop

Related news:

News photo

Wine 9.8 Fixes Nearly 20 Year Old Bug For Installing Microsoft Office 97

News photo

Redfall’s two DLC heroes are still MIA a year later

News photo

Resident Evil 9 is set for release early next year according to leak, announcement soon