I go way back before the internet. My first real online interactions were on BBS's. Back then (around 91-92 or so) you could walk into any Egghead software, when they still had physical buildings and ask for a list of all the BBS's in the county and they would give you like a 2 inch stack of tractor-fed impact printer paper with tons of phone numbers.
My main hang out was a place in st. pete called Close Encounters. It was a MajorBBS based bbs with 62 lines. Back then that meant 62 physical phone lines with modems in this guys house. We would bs around online all week, then have a meet-up at local bars. The first 'internet' interaction was on that bbs using slip accounts to connect with a MajorBBS in California. usually it was for like 3-4 hours once a week.
My main hang out was a place in st. pete called Close Encounters. It was a MajorBBS based bbs with 62 lines. Back then that meant 62 physical phone lines with modems in this guys house. We would bs around online all week, then have a meet-up at local bars. The first 'internet' interaction was on that bbs using slip accounts to connect with a MajorBBS in California. usually it was for like 3-4 hours once a week.