The BBS Experience: Revisiting the Online World Before the Web

Long before Facebook, social media, and even the widespread adoption of the World Wide Web, people were connecting with one another through bulletin board systems, commonly known as BBSs.

My interest in these systems isn’t something that developed recently. I started using them back in the 1980s, while I was still in high school, and continued into the 1990s, probably until around 1996.

For those who weren’t around during that period, getting online was a very different experience. You needed a computer, a modem, and a telephone line. You would dial into another computer, wait for the connection to establish, and suddenly find yourself inside an online community.

There were no smartphones, social media feeds, or constantly connected devices. Yet many of the things we associate with today’s internet were already happening.

People were exchanging ideas, participating in discussions, sharing files, and getting to know one another through their computers.

Decades later, I decided to revisit that period by building two BBS-related projects: a WordPress theme inspired by traditional bulletin boards and an actual BBS accessible through Telnet.

Part of the motivation is nostalgia, but I’m also fascinated by how much of today’s online world can be traced back to those early systems.

Growing Up Online in Huntington, West Virginia

I grew up in Huntington, West Virginia, which turned out to be a pretty good place to discover bulletin board systems.

With Marshall University in town, there were college students and others interested in computers and telecommunications. I was fortunate to have local bulletin boards available because calling long-distance systems could become expensive.

Most of the BBSs I used were local.

I was extremely shy in high school, and communicating with people through a computer was much easier for me than approaching them in person.

Through these bulletin boards, I got to know people who were already attending college while I was still in high school.

Looking back, I find that pretty remarkable.

These weren’t people I was meeting at school or through my everyday activities. They were people I encountered because we happened to connect to the same computer system and participate in the same discussions.

The BBSs I used had public message boards where people could post messages and respond to one another. I don’t really remember exchanging private messages with anyone. Most of my interaction happened through those public discussions.

And interestingly, none of those online friendships ever turned into friendships in person.

We knew each other through the computer, and that’s where those relationships stayed.

I suppose that’s one of the things that fascinates me about the early online world. Long before social media existed, people were already developing relationships with others they might never meet face-to-face.

What Was a Bulletin Board System?

A bulletin board system was essentially a computer running specialized software that allowed other people to connect remotely, usually by dialing its telephone number with a modem.

Once connected, users could navigate menus, read and post messages, download files, and participate in discussions.

Many systems were operated by individuals, often from their homes. The person running the system was generally known as the sysop, short for system operator.

Unlike today’s internet, where millions of people can access the same service simultaneously, many early BBSs could accommodate only one caller at a time.

If the telephone line was busy, you had to try again later.

And because long-distance calls weren’t free, the BBSs available in your local calling area often played an important role in shaping your online experience.

In some ways, that gave these communities a geographic connection that many online communities no longer have.

Before Social Media, There Were Message Boards

Something I find particularly interesting is how many of today’s online activities existed in some form on bulletin board systems.

People were already participating in public discussions, sharing information, exchanging opinions, and developing online identities.

The interfaces were much simpler, and the connections were considerably slower, but the basic idea wasn’t all that different from today’s discussion forums or social networks.

One difference was that many BBS communities were relatively small.

You might see the same usernames appearing in discussions over and over again. Over time, those names could become familiar, even if you never met the people behind them.

For someone like me, who found face-to-face communication difficult during those years, that kind of environment offered a different way to participate.

The Transition to the World Wide Web

I continued using bulletin board systems into the 1990s, probably until around 1996.

By then, the online world was changing rapidly.

Commercial online services such as America Online and CompuServe had become increasingly popular, and the World Wide Web was introducing people to an entirely different way of finding information and communicating.

Websites, browsers, online chat rooms, and eventually social networks would gradually take over many of the functions that bulletin boards had served.

Not all BBSs disappeared, of course. Some continued operating, and enthusiasts still maintain systems today.

But the period when dialing into a local bulletin board was a common way to participate in an online community was coming to an end.

Recreating the BBS Experience With WordPress

Years later, I decided to experiment with recreating some of that early online experience using WordPress.

The first part of the project involved building a custom WordPress theme inspired by traditional bulletin board systems.

I wanted to capture the appearance and atmosphere of those early environments while using modern web technology underneath.

It’s an interesting combination: taking a platform designed for today’s web and giving it an interface inspired by a much earlier period of computing.

The project has also given me an opportunity to experiment with interface design, navigation, and how familiar online features can be presented in different ways.

Building a Telnet-Accessible BBS

Alongside the WordPress theme, I also built a bulletin board system that can be accessed through Telnet.

This is a different experience from visiting a website.

Rather than using a conventional browser interface, users connect through a terminal client and interact with a text-based system.

It’s much closer to the way traditional bulletin board systems operated, although the underlying network technology is different from the old dial-up connections.

For someone who never experienced a BBS during its heyday, a terminal-accessible system can offer a glimpse into what online communication looked and felt like before graphical web browsers became commonplace.

For me, it’s also a chance to revisit technology I remember using decades ago.

Why I’m Revisiting This Technology

I don’t think the appeal of bulletin board systems is simply that they’re old.

What interests me is the way people used relatively limited technology to create communities, exchange ideas, and connect with others.

When I think back to being a shy high school student in Huntington, communicating with college students through local message boards, I realize how meaningful those early systems could be.

They provided opportunities to interact with people outside my immediate everyday environment, without requiring me to overcome the same barriers I experienced in person.

And while the technology has changed enormously since then, I wonder how much the underlying reasons people go online have really changed.

We still want to communicate, share experiences, discover information, and connect with others.

The platforms are different. The interfaces are different. The scale is certainly different.

But some of the basic motivations seem remarkably familiar.

What’s Next for the Project?

Both BBS projects are ongoing experiments.

I plan to continue refining the WordPress theme, exploring the Telnet-based system, and documenting the development process.

I’d also like to use this project as a starting point for exploring more of the history of online communication, including commercial online services, early chat rooms, internet forums, and the eventual rise of social media.

Having experienced some of these changes firsthand, I find it interesting to look back at how one era gradually gave way to another.

And perhaps that’s what I enjoy most about these projects.

They’re an opportunity to revisit an earlier chapter of computing history while continuing to experiment with the technology of today.