What strikes me about this file was that it was written around 1982 and decries how out-of-touch, vicious, and impersonal the BBS world has grown for the writer. BBS is one of the oldest forms of online chatting. If you think YouTube is not good anymore, "an old timer....1977" thought the same about social media of 1982. The following is a real excerpt from the post.
bbsdeath.pro (Whatever Happened to REAL Bulletin-Board Systems?):
"The one point that made that age golden was the users. Without users, a BBS
is just a program. With users, it gains a personality, and if I may be
metaphysical, a soul. The users MAKE the BBS. A Sysop may have the greatest
BBS program in the world, but without active users, he just has a computer
wasting line-current.
WHAT HAS KILLED BBS SYSTEMS:
1) Program uploading and downloading. People just get their programs and
leave.
2) The technical clique's retaliation against "gabbers" who just used the
systems for personal communication.
3) Too many BBS systems in one area. BBS's are still alive and healthy in
low-density areas.
4) The loss of "anonimity" among BBS users. The BBS used to be the place to
escape. Where no one had to be "themselves." Users such as "James Bond" and
"Captain Scarlet" were given free reign to vent their fantasies. Today, most
systems do not allow false names so they can keep track of users.
5) The anti-hacker movement. More and more people today think the word
"hacker" means "phone phriek/computer crasher." All it ever meant was "great
programmer." You would feel proud if someone labeled you a "hacker."
6) The press' ignorance of the BBS community. By trying to make a scandal out
of all of it, they ruined a great form of communication. In particular, the
magazine "InfoWorld" has done more harm to the BBS community than other press
organization. While they actively TRIED to HELP the community, they have caused
more harm in their mis-reporting of info.
7) Sysop's ignorance. Quite frankly, the average quality of "Sysop" has
dropped. Sysop's are (on the whole) less active and less responsive than 5
years ago. More and more of them are technically incompetent, they couldn't fix
a bug if it bit them in the nose."
These were the worst problems with the internet at the time. It's clear that the internet is very different now and proclaiming the end of the "Golden age" for these reasons in 1982 is funny, but in human spirit nothing has changed. Recall Ezra of the Old Testament and how the priests cried during rebuilding of the temple because it wasn't like the building of the past. Nostalgia is a timeless, human feeling. Let's accept it and turn the energy from that wistfulness to better the current time, thinking about time out of reach can be immensely motivating
What strikes me about this file was that it was written around 1982 and decries how out-of-touch, vicious, and impersonal the BBS world has grown for the writer. BBS is one of the oldest forms of online chatting. If you think YouTube is not good anymore, "an old timer....1977" thought the same about social media of 1982. The following is a real excerpt from the post.
bbsdeath.pro (Whatever Happened to REAL Bulletin-Board Systems?):
"The one point that made that age golden was the users. Without users, a BBS
is just a program. With users, it gains a personality, and if I may be
metaphysical, a soul. The users MAKE the BBS. A Sysop may have the greatest
BBS program in the world, but without active users, he just has a computer
wasting line-current.
WHAT HAS KILLED BBS SYSTEMS:
1) Program uploading and downloading. People just get their programs and
leave.
2) The technical clique's retaliation against "gabbers" who just used the
systems for personal communication.
3) Too many BBS systems in one area. BBS's are still alive and healthy in
low-density areas.
4) The loss of "anonimity" among BBS users. The BBS used to be the place to
escape. Where no one had to be "themselves." Users such as "James Bond" and
"Captain Scarlet" were given free reign to vent their fantasies. Today, most
systems do not allow false names so they can keep track of users.
5) The anti-hacker movement. More and more people today think the word
"hacker" means "phone phriek/computer crasher." All it ever meant was "great
programmer." You would feel proud if someone labeled you a "hacker."
6) The press' ignorance of the BBS community. By trying to make a scandal out
of all of it, they ruined a great form of communication. In particular, the
magazine "InfoWorld" has done more harm to the BBS community than other press
organization. While they actively TRIED to HELP the community, they have caused
more harm in their mis-reporting of info.
7) Sysop's ignorance. Quite frankly, the average quality of "Sysop" has
dropped. Sysop's are (on the whole) less active and less responsive than 5
years ago. More and more of them are technically incompetent, they couldn't fix
a bug if it bit them in the nose."
These were the worst problems with the internet at the time. It's clear that the internet is very different now and proclaiming the end of the "Golden age" for these reasons in 1982 is funny, but in human spirit nothing has changed. Recall Ezra of the Old Testament and how the priests cried during rebuilding of the temple because it wasn't like the building of the past. Nostalgia is a timeless, human feeling. Let's accept it and turn the energy from that wistfulness to better the current time, thinking about time out of reach can be immensely motivating