Most people use bbses, just to play door games. A lot of boards are basically door game servers, and I get that. However, I feel like bulletin boards should be used to their fullest. They offer tons of services and are a treasure trove of information. Users should, use the message boards, and email services. Some boards have internet email. Most Synchronet boards do have internet email. Message boards are good way to share information and hobbies, and should be used as such. My board has retro gaming magazines, retro bulletin board magazines, and old computer magazines. I feel like boards should try and preserve history, and share the information. I am in the process of adding text files to my bbs. There are a ton of great text files, on textfiles.com. They hold a treasure trove of information. Users should look for text files, and use the boards to learn new things. Some boards allow gopher out connections. It's like an old school web browser. Loads of information can be found on them. You can learn how to program, host a server, start a bbs, or learn how to be an anarchist. The last one I don't recommend lol. I hope by starting hobby-space message network, information can be shared, new friendships found, without, the gate keepers on dove-net. That place has became incredibly toxic over the years. They want to complain about a dying bbs scene, and run all the new users, and new sysops away.

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þ Synchronet þ Hobby Space - Express Yourself hobbyspc.vert.synchro.net

Being a Sysop isn't for everyone. So why do we do this? Why did I run a dial-up BBS back in the late 80s until the internet came along and wiped most of them out? And why, suddenly in late 2025, did I decide to do it all over again?

Great questions. For me, the number one reason is simple: "community." Today’s trillion-dollar internet giants connect billions of people, but they are no longer in it for the original reasons. Their super-complex algorithms are designed to pit people against each other and keep everyone hooked for the almighty click. A BBS is the exact opposite. It’s usually a small computer sitting in someone’s home or apartment, run by a single person the "Sysop" who spends an enormous amount of time improving the system purely for others to enjoy. No algorithms, true free speech, and no B.S.

I’ve pondered whether I should fill my file areas with endless retro computing games, software, warez, ANSI art, and documents, just like we did back in the day. Honestly, I’m not sure how effective that would be. Literally everything I could put on there can already be found on the modern internet. Letting users find that stuff on the web saves my upstream bandwidth and a lot of my time.

I’m still deciding which direction to take the file section. Ideally, I want the files to relate directly to the specific purpose of the BBS, but that will take time to develop as the user base grows.

However, I did recently post a special collection: The complete Compute’s Gazette magazine collection (1983-1990) and all the corresponding floppy disk files for the programs you used to have to type out by hand!

Why? Because I love reading old magazines and remembering how tech used to be, and I wanted to share that with people who might not have them. (By the way, I am a current subscriber to the new Compute’s Gazette magazine—the retro community is really booming!)

Right now, to fulfill my main goal of building a community, the message subs are by far my most important area of interest. I've been working incredibly hard to network the QWK Hobby-Space areas with youl. I spent over a month figuring out FidoNet for global messaging, I'm currently working on integrating other FTN-type networked message areas.

The ultimate goal is to connect a community of people discussing their interests in a completely algorithm-free forum and with some games available and other common interesting things to do.

I’m not even sure if I’m going to get many callers, and I know I still need to do a lot of work on the BBS to keep people coming back. You usually only get one chance with a new user. If the system doesn’t give them a lot to do, or if it isn't noticeably different from every other BBS they try, they simply won’t be back. But I'm ready for the challenge.

Yeah keep the board up and keep modding it. You will start to get users. Just don't give up.

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þ Synchronet þ Hobby Space - Express Yourself hobbyspc.vert.synchro.net