Been getting back into the BBS scene. Like HARD. I've been feeling homeless online for the past while, for the first time in my life. Ever since I could use a computer, I felt very much at home, until maybe a year or two ago.
Twitter/FB/Instagram, I don't think I need to talk about how bad those are. Reddit no longer has a community to speak of, and does not have viable alternatives at the moment. HN/Lobste.rs kind of sites are okay for news, but I don't feel at home there. 4chan is too angry and noisy. Mastodon is fine, but it's micro-blogging, you know, which limits the depths at which you can interact.
IRC is still around and often nice, actually, though it's a big time investment.
From my perspective, there are two problems. One is the move from communities to big corporations masquerading as communities. Another is the online world has moved on to a disposable on-the-go on-the-toilet kind of interaction, which does not suit me.
But the BBS scene! I tried out a couple BBSes about a week ago on a lark, just out of nostalgia's sake. The nostalgia was nice, not going to lie.
But it's more than just nostalgia. It's an actual active scene, and it's nice. It's friendly and it's all community-driven and it's got the right feeling, the right balance of pseudonymity and freedom and manners and friendship and intimacy.
I took this screenshot of a poll on a BBS in Montreal. What's really fascinating to me about the modern BBS scene is that it's not just old fogeys like me. There are a considerable number of people who never used a BBS in the BBS era who are now investigating it. You read messaging from high school students who are exploring BBSes now. Really cool to see.
@ethicsperoxide Ah man.. the poll, I'd probably have answered 4 on there. I miss the glory days of echomail networks, that was -fun-, especially the local ones!
@trinsec I just saw a message from one guy who said he dials in! Like using a phone line! Amazing.
For most of us, the local BBS is a fantasy, though. The BBSes I ssh/telnet into are all several timezones away. It would be cool to have some local ones again....