OK, got it.
Still is that the entire difference? I was expecting much more.
Definitely not, but these are some of the most important and relevant differences.
Others: they were geographically focused due to using telephone networks which has pros/cons, they would onboard new people via a voice phone call (something I kind want a modern version of), and when switching between BBSs you’d basically have a new identity because they were independent.
It’s the subject of a whole book so there’s a lot of interesting anecdotes. One of the most popular BBSs, The WELL, was entirely financially supported by a Grateful Dead sub-community hosted on it. Most of the other users didn’t even know that sub-community existed.
There were other traits of their communities that emerged but they are consistent with the online communities that followed: people who might not otherwise meet or find certain information (due to stigma or whatever), did.
reply