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GENERAL ARTICLES
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What is a Bulletin Board?
Matt Mc_Carthy, 1:396/45.17
(originally posted in FNEWSL51)
Way back in my military days, there were "Bulletin Boards" all over
most military bases.
There was a "Bulletin Board" in front of the Mess Hall which usually
listed the meals and serving times for the current day.
There was a "Bulletin Board" in front of the Headquarters Building
which usually listed the 'Orders of the Day', the 'Uniform of the
Day', which units were training on which areas of the base on
certain days, as well as listings of coming Parades, Ceremonies, and
hollidays.
There was a "Bulletin Board" in front of the Chapel which listed
Services and times for each of many denominations.
There was a "Bulletin Board" in front of the Exchange which listed
the hours of operation, specific uniform and dress codes required
for admittance, and dozens to hundreds of personal cards for
everything from 'Free Kittens' to 'baby sitting wanted', to cars and
other stuff 'for sale'.
The "Bulletin Board" in front of Headquarters, as well as the
"Bulletin Board" at the Mess Hall were 'Read Only' Boards in as much
as they were covered with glass doors that were kept locked.
The "Bulletin Board" in front of the Exchange and the Chapel were
'Read/Write' Boards, in as much as they were uncovered, and were
open for anyone to post personal notes and messages on.
In the late 1970's when computers began to catch on, several
programmers wrote electronic "Bulletin Board" programs which exactly
duplicated the functionality of the old manual "Bulletin Boards".
I built my own computer and started running a local club's BBS
program on it for the club. All of the functions _exactly_
duplicated the functionality of the manual "Bulletin Boards". I was
amazed that electronics could do that.
By 1983 I began hearing of something called 'Fido' which was
supposed to be a bunch of connected systems, or something like that.
The concept of 'network' still didn't exist. I went to a friend's
and viewed a "FidoNet" system in operation. Needless to say I was
less than enthused. It was NOT a BBS at all, merely a way to send
'private messages' to other friends who were also part of the same
system. Since I didn't know anyone who was in that system, the idea
of sending 'private messages' to an unknown person simply had no
appeal whatever.
During 1984 I heard that this "Fido" thing had begun 'Conferences'
which now closely duplicated normal "Bulletin Boards", and again I
had to take a look at it. _NOW_ Fido began to look like a real
"Bulletin Board" system; some conferences were 'closed', read only,
some were 'open', read-write.
That's _my_ definition of a BBS.
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* Origin: Home of the Fidonews (2:2/2.0)
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