from
Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003)
BBS
/B.B.S/, n.
[common; abbreviation, "Bulletin Board System"] An electronic bulletin
board system; that is, a message database where people can log in and
leave broadcast messages for others grouped (typically) into {topic
group}s. The term was especially applied to the thousands of local BBS
systems that operated during the pre-Internet microcomputer era of
roughly 1980 to 1995, typically run by amateurs for fun out of their
homes on MS-DOS boxes with a single modem line each. Fans of Usenet
and Internet or the big commercial timesharing bboards such as
CompuServe and GEnie tended to consider local BBSes the low-rent
district of the hacker culture, but they served a valuable function by
knitting together lots of hackers and users in the personal-micro
world who would otherwise have been unable to exchange code at all.
Post-Internet, BBSs are likely to be local newsgroups on an ISP;
efficiency has increased but a certain flavor has been lost. See also
{bboard}.
from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
bulletin board system
bboard
BBS
bulletin board
CBBS
<communications, application> (BBS, bboard /bee'bord/)
A computer and associated software which typically provides an
electronic message database where people can log in and leave
messages. Messages are typically split into {topic groups}
similar to the {newsgroups} on {Usenet} (which is like a
distributed BBS). Any user may submit or read any message in
these public areas.
The term comes from physical pieces of board on which people
can pin messages written on paper for general consumption - a
"physical bulletin board". {Ward Christensen}, the programmer
and operator of the first BBS (on-line 1978-02-16) called it a
CBBS for "computer bulletin board system".
Apart from public message areas, a BBS may provide archives of
files, personal {electronic mail} and any other services or
activities of interest to the bulletin board's system operator
(the "{sysop}"). Thousands of local BBSes are in operation
throughout the world, typically run by amateurs for fun out of
their homes on {MS-DOS} boxes with a single {modem} line each.
Although BBSes have traditionally been the domain of
hobbyists, an increasing number of BBSes are connected
directly to the {Internet}, and many BBSes are currently
operated by government, educational, and research
institutions. Fans of {Usenet} and {Internet} or the big
commercial {time-sharing} bboards such as {CompuServe}, {CIX}
and {GEnie} tend to consider local BBSes the low-rent district
of the hacker culture, but they serve a valuable function by
knitting together lots of hackers and users in the
personal-{micro} world who would otherwise be unable to
exchange code at all.
Use of this term for a {Usenet} newsgroup generally marks one
either as a {newbie} fresh in from the BBS world or as a real
old-timer predating {Usenet}.
(2005-09-20)