Frequently Asked Questions

The idea for The Official BBS Day was something that came up during an MRC (Multi-Relay Chat) discussion around October of 2022.  We thought that it would be cool to have a day to celebrate and advertise our beloved hobby---a date that we can all rally behind and promote one of the world's best social groups.

You can help out The BBS Day in several ways, such as using people's BBS systems, running your own, or advertising the hobby.  There is nothing more dear to a sysop than to hear that his or her system is enjoyed by a large number of people and serves a useful purpose.  The sysop's BBS is like their own little baby, which they give their heart and soul into making just right.  By thanking a sysop your are showing appreciation for a work that may have had hundreds or thousands of hours invested into its development.  Show kindness and appreciation and it will go a long way.

We will be publishing posters to advertise BBS Day through the mail and posted at various college campuses on their physical bulletin boards.  For BBS Day specifically we will have 5x9" postcards that can be mailed to interested groups or given out in mass at technology-related events.  You will be able to find those posters and post cards in high-resolution from the Downloads section of this website.

One of the best places to get involved in and learn more about the BBS Scene is through the Multi-Relay Chat weekly MeaTuP hosted by MeaTLoTioN every Friday at 20:00 UTC.  This Multi-Relay Chat or MRC can be connected to through the majority of BBSes out there that are actively still being worked on.  At the time of this writing there are around 110 BBSes connected to the MRC instant messaging service.  By listening to the pro's and The Scene's personalities you can quickly get an understanding of what being a member with us is all about, and you can use the experience to inquire about just how these systems work from the people behind the implementations.  It is a lot of fun and there are often 20 or more people on this messaging system, most being really eager to help you answer your questions.

The top four BBS systems, listed in order of popularity are: Mystic BBS (www.mysticbbs.com), Synchronet BBS (www.synchro.net), Enigma1/2 (enigma-bbs.github.io), and CyberBBS (www.cyberbbs.com).  All of the programmers of these BBS software put many hours of work into making quality and free software for the BBSing community; they have invested their lives into making quality platforms for sysops to configure and modify, it would be most excellent to offer one of these programmers some coin so that they can buy some coffee to keep them going 🙂

mys112a47_w64

Mystic BBS v1.12a47 for Windows, 64-bit

mys112a47_l64

Mystic BBS v1.12a47 for Linux, 64-bit

There are three main BBS client software solutions.  It is a draw of whether NetRunner or SyncTerm is the best.  However, there are many people who pick one of these two, or even both at the same time to get the functionality of both of these.  NetRunner can be downloaded from www.mysticbbs.com and SyncTerm can be downloaded from syncterm.bbsdev.net.  Both of these solutions are wonderful and they both support the Z-Modem 8K (ZedZap) protocol as well as iCE Colours which make for a better palate of colours to display more vibrant graphics.

SyncTERM-1.1-setup

SyncTerm v1.1 Setup for Windows/64-bit

nr21_w64

NetRunner BBS Client v2.1 for Windows/64-bit

There are three main places to pick up some ANSI artwork.  The first being www.ansigarden.com, where Luciano Ayres [enzo] of Blocktronics.com sells his artwork for a fair price that you can add to your BBS to make it uber custom and elite.  The second place has artwork that can't be posted on your BBS without the permission of the artists.  That one is https://16colo.rs .  This site contains artpacks from many years past up to this present day.  The third place is the ACiD Artpacks Archive which can be downloaded from http://cd.textfiles.com/darkdomain/ .  With these three points to access ANSI art you will have come across around 85 to 95 % of  the artwork that has been published from the ANSI Artwork Scene.

The answer to this question requires another question to be asked: what do you want to accomplish with your art?  In explanation, some artwork design tools are exceptional at doing animated graphics where you can display art in stages, painting the characters onto the screen piece by piece, while other software is meant only to display ANSI to the screen in a top to bottom fashion.  The very best software for doing animated ANSI screen painting is TheDraw, while the best software for doing standard ANSI screens are called PabloDraw and Moebius.  If you are looking for an artwork creation tool for doing descriptions of file archives (file_id.diz/.ans) then you should check out MysticBBS's internal ANSI editor as it does the dimensions properly, only using 45 columns rather than forced at 80 columns.

The first question is easy, with the best chat system being MRC (Multi-Relay Chat), while the best e-Mail being one of the more popular echomail networks, such as FSXnet, Sp00knet, Whispernet, or FidoNet.  FidoNet being the first and longest lasting echomail network ever made.  The Scene has branched out to include niche topic echonets, most notably Sp00knet (open-source intelligence) and FSXnet (tech support).  For the largest selection of BBS Echomail Networks, check out The Bottomless Abyss BBS which has over two dozen networks online.

The most efficient way to help The Scene out with your code is to contact one of our BBS modding groups.  These include PHATstar, Phenom Productions, DoRE, and ACiD Productions.  If you e-mail bbsday.com via our Contact menu we will reply with the e-mails you can use to start out in getting affiliated with one of our groups.

BBSes are not backed by major corporations, our chat is free and open, and we don't spam you with advertisements.  The community is less self-centered than FB or TW and we work together on projects, with few trolls being active on our networks.  Granted, there are some, but they are few.  We are also text-based so you aren't bombarded with focused, flashy, and highly annoying advertisements.

The best resource for the answer to this question is without a doubt the Telnet BBS Guide (www.telnetbbsguide.com), which can be downloaded from the link below.  That site produces monthly snapshots of all the active BBSes globally.

The Bulletin Board System Timeline

The Very First BBS in Operation

A new concept of showing content in your web page with more interactive way.  THIS IS GOING TO BE THE 45 ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST BBS COMMUNICATION!!!

Read More1978, Feb 16th

Remote Access BBS for DOS

The most advanced retro bbs server software for its time.

Read More1989

Synchronet BBS Enters The Scene

The best of open-source BBSes hits the stage.

Read More1991 July

Renegade BBS is Put Together

The first really elite BBS software that influenced a generation.

Read More1991 July

Mystic BBS Enters The Scene

The most complete, full featured and plug and play as well as complex BBS server software ever made up to this point and beyond.

Read More1997

Enigma1/2 Enters The Scene

A new BBS server is born.  This one is great to use if you are a computer programmer.

Read More2015

CyberBBS Enters The Scene

The return of Amiga BBSes begins here.  Fun times!

Read More2022

Countdown to BBS Day

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Welcome to the Official BBS Day

The Bulletin Board System News Updates

Bulletin Board System Scene Collectives Representatives

k9zw has donated money towards the bbsday.org website hosting

Without people like k9zw, this site may not even exist. It is with much appreciation that we acknowledge his contribution to this BBS Scene bbsday.org site. Thank you k9zw for sponsoring this site. 🙂

Would you like to sponsor The BBS Scene and bbsday.org?

Would you like to make a lasting difference in keeping The BBS Scene alive and well? Please donate to this effort and you will be acknowledged for your contribution and your gift will make good things happen.

Dustin Nulf has donated!!

The coder of the BBS Door Game called "Operation: Overkill" has made a donation to bbsday.org!!  His game is still a thing which has its own website and Discord channel.  "OOII is fun, worth checking out, especially with Syncterm's built in support for OOII" -roovis

Visit The Operation Overkill Website

Jonathan Justvig Sent Some Coin

The CEO of KANSIT.com has donated to bbsday.org.  He is the man behind the effort to "bring vintage technology to the modern world"

View His BrochureVisit KANSIT.com
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BBSes
Currently Active BBSes (according to the Telnet BBS Guide)