Jack Rickard, editor of Boardwatch magazine, saw…

Jack Rickard, editor of Boardwatch magazine, saw it coming in October 1994 when he wrote, “the lid just blew off the top of where the Internet can go.” He was referring as much to the future of the Internet as to the sudden sharp decline of the computerized bulletin board system. But where did it suddenly disappear to?

“Many of the old systems are still around,” said Alex Zell of Chicago, one of the first people to dial a BBS and, at 84, the oldest. Zell noted that, among others, Chicago’s Chinet (grandson of CBBS), the Well in San Francisco, and Echo in New York are all still functioning. Nevertheless, for most BBS systems, usership is down to only a core contingent, sometimes logging on for sentimental more than practical reasons. “BBSs became Web pages,” Zell said. “The Web became one big BBS, or a million tiny ones, depending on how you look at it.”

This year marked the BBSs 20th anniversary. CBBS, the world’s first, was born here in Chicago to proud parents Ward Christensen and his partner Randy Suess in February1978. CBBS was established to accommodate the members of the Chicago Area Computer Hobbyists Exchange.

The two inventors recognized an urgent need among C.A.C.H.E. members to share programs (inspiring Christensen’s Xmodem protocol) and messages (leading to CBBS). “Today, I do the same thing on the Internet,” Christensen said. “If I have questions or I want to chat, I go to a newsgroup.” And he downloads software and documents from many popular shareware FTP sites, doing away with the once-crucial need for regional bulletin-board file download areas.

Christensen sees the Internet as beneficial, describing the earlier BBS users as “more elitist, more computer people.” So, though BBSs are no longer in daily use even by their inventors, our messages are still answered, and our files transferred through the Internet. But what is good for the masses has proven devastating to the early settlers. “Once BBSers were able to leave the local community via the Internet, it was unstoppable,” Randy Suess said. Indeed, it is difficult today to capture the social energy which was the hallmark of many of the best BBSs.

Despite the Internet’s contribution to the decline of BBSs, it’s widely acknowledged that it was heavily influenced by BBS technology, content and culture.

Originally Published: October 30, 1998 at 1:00 AM CST