Another day, another #moralpanic about Those #Kids These Days and all the #Crazy Stuff They Say On The #Internet.

Forty years ago (!) I was a fourteen-year-old #JROTC cadet, in the last great hot time of the #ColdWar, obsessed with reading #SoldierOfFortune. I was also an early adopter of what’s now called social media.

They were called bulletin board systems, or #BBSs for short. Usually somebody’s home computer with a few phone lines coming in. You’d dial the number, wait for the screech to come through the handset, slam the handset into the modem’s acoustic coupler, and … magic happened.

On the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog. But on BBSs, they sure knew you were a kid—the more so the more you tried to hide it. Not that many of the adults were much more mature, but I digress.

See, kids do kid things. In my case, as the abovementioned 14-year-old SOF-reading cadet, it was the signature I appended to every post: “Dan the Merc.”

There. That’s a thing you know now.

Can you imagine anything cooler? Anything tougher? Anything more ABSOLUTELY BADASS? Wait, don’t answer that. You in the back, stop snickering.

Relax. Kids grow up.

Another day, another #moralpanic about Those #Kids These Days and all the #Crazy Stuff They Say On The #Internet.

Forty years ago (!) I was a fourteen-year-old #JROTC cadet, in the last great hot time of the #ColdWar, obsessed with reading #SoldierOfFortune. I was also an early adopter of what’s now called social media.

They were called bulletin board systems, or #BBSs for short. Usually somebody’s home computer with a few phone lines coming in. You’d dial the number, wait for the screech to come through the handset, slam the handset into the modem’s acoustic coupler, and … magic happened.

On the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog. But on BBSs, they sure knew you were a kid—the more so the more you tried to hide it. Not that many of the adults were much more mature, but I digress.

See, kids do kid things. In my case, as the abovementioned 14-year-old SOF-reading cadet, it was the signature I appended to every post: “Dan the #Merc.”

There. That’s a thing you know now.

Can you imagine anything cooler? Anything tougher? Anything more ABSOLUTELY BADASS? Wait, don’t answer that. You in the back, stop snickering.

Relax. Kids grow up.

Time for a proper #introduction.

I am, like many others here, a refugee from other social media sites. In my case, it all started way back in 1990 when I did the #OU DT200 information technology course. This gave me access to their CoSy based conferencing system. From there I explored various #BBSs before joining #CIX. From there I migrated to #Facebook and #Twitter via #Usenet.

My posts are likely to cover a variety of areas such as: #Cats, #Photography, #Cooking and #Running.

@ecliptik @w4v3 #UUCP was used primarily at universities and corporations; #FidoNet by #BBSs. Both #Usenet and #Email ran atop UUCP. You could also send commands to be run on a remote system, and you'd get an email with the result. #FidoNet also had its version of email and Usenet (discussion groups), called netmail and echomail. Technically, #UUCP was the protocol; the network of systems using it went by various names, such as UUCPnet or UUnet. 2/

@autumn I used #BBSs through 1997. I remember my ISP in 1997 had access to several popular BBSs around North America with no long-distance fees. I thought that was wonderful, but I only used that feature for a year. Things changed fast.

@fernando_delamo acabamos de tocar parte de la banda sonora de Interstellar.

A la segunda, ya me dijo: Déjame que ya la tocó a dos manos:

https://youtu.be/l-Ub7xfQLRg

#piano #BBSS #orgullo

@weborguk @brianfagioli
Well said!
Haven't read the Atlantic yet, but you are right. My third day poking around on Mastodon (via newsie.social server started for journalism pros, profs, etc.), having flashbacks to my 1980s exploring #Usenet, #fidonet #BBSs, #CompuServe, #thewell, #BIX, #Delphi and more.

Very curious about whether the Federated model will get average-person friendly enough in apps, installation and navigation for my non-geek FB neighbor groups, powerful as a local newspaper.

Reading "Modem World" and it made the point that #BBSs were local communities - where people often knew each other in person. Even when #FidoNet came out, a person's Fido address reflected geography. There was a community.

Now with social media, even Mastodon, I get to converse with people worldwide with like-minded interests... but I know zero people on Mastodon that are near me geographically.
1/

Those of you that fiddling with #retro computers and #BBSs, what's your favorite Terminal Client for the C64?