Essential Guide To Bulletin Board Systems (supplement To Computers In Libraries)

ESSENTIAL GUIDE - -TO - BULLETIN BOARD - SYSTEMS - Meckler Publishing Corporation "i ESSENTIAL GUIDE --TO-"BULLETIN BOARD -SYSTEMS- ESSENTIAL GUIDE --10-BULLETIN BOARD -SYSTEMSPatrick R. Dewey Meckler Publishing Corporation KIRK~OOO HWY lI8Y c/o NEW CASTlECC DEPT OF U BY S 2200 hAlLASTCN R WIlMINGTON,DE 0 12/05187 24.95 B1 74 (;4 c. { 03101 Supplement to Small Computers in Libraries, no. 2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dewey, Patrick R., 1949Essential guide to bulletin board systems. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Computer bulletin boards. I. Title. QA76.9.B84D48 1986 004.6 86-12516 ISBN 0-88736-066-1 Copyright © 1987 Meckler Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without prior written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may Quote brief passages in review. Meckler Publishing Corporation, 11 Ferry Lane West, Westport, CT 06880. Meckler Publishing, 3 Henrietta Street, London WC2E 8LU, UK. Printed and bound in the United States of America. This book is dedicated to: System Operators Great and Small "...one day you walk into your room and it's full of computers." -- Gene Plantz (Chicago Magazine. July 1986) CONTENTS Preface _______________________________________ Acknow ledgmen ts _____________________________ xi xiii 1. An Overview of the BBS World __________________ 1 2. Hard ware and Software ________________________ 11 3. Software Selection 41 4. BBS Content--Attracting Callers 67 5. Setting Up Shop 81 6. Samples and Printouts of Bulletin Board Operation 99 7. Lincolnet: A Case Study 145 8. Other Types of Bulletin Boards 155 Glossary _____________________________________ 161 A ppendix A: Bi bliograph y ________________________ 167 Appendix B: Vendors ___________________________ 177 Appendix C: Questionnaire on Microcomputer Electronic Bulletin Boards 181 Appendix D: LSCA Grant Proposal __________________ 187 Appendix E: Bulletin Boards Mentioned in this Book _________________ 195 Index 197 PREFACE Though involved with microcomputers since 1977, it was 1978 before I could afford to buy an Apple II. I now own three Apples as well as a Zenith 148. I also have a room full of disk drives, modems, monitors, printers, and circuit boards. Eventually (if this book sells enough copies), I Despite this, I am not a will purchase a Macintosh. which is someone who lives inside a "hacker," microcomputer. The first hackers were assembly language buffs, but later there came other kinds of hackers. I might call myself a "word hacker," since one of my three main interests in microcomputers is word processing for writing. My second interest, related to my career, library administration, includes internal library activities such as preparing monthly or annual reports, budgets, and making catalog cards. The third is "public access microcomputers." Making microcomputers available to the general public has become a major activity for about 12 percent of all public libraries; kids to senior citizens have mastered the Apple, IBM PC, or Commodore 64 at a public library. Part of my own public access effort included setting up the first library electronic bulletin board system at the Chicago Public Library which has had over 30,000 calls as of this writing. It was this bulletin board that gave us our "window on the world" in Chicago; people called from the 50 states and Canada. Though I fo