MAMEWorld Forums - The Loony Bin - Re: What if you had to use dialup BBSes today.

> > How many of us were huge into BBSing back in the late '80's
>
> Oh man I miss the days of using Crosstalk, ProComm, and Qmodem to get on all the BBSs
> and Compuserve. Can't remember the modem brand I used at work though. Some of the
> GIFs I still have from those days have the BBS phone number watermarked on them, only
> evidence I got.

Ha, very nearly got myself in some hot water downloading GIFs back then.

Most BBSes had a scheme where you would fax the sysop a copy of your license to prove you were 18 and get access to the adult areas, but I found one that was on the honor system. It had a scary warning page, but then anyone could just go in. You of course know what the honor system is worth when it comes between a horny 14- or 15-year-old and boobies. I was stupid, though, and didn't make an account that said I was 18, I would just go right in using my regular account with my real birth date.

My mom worked a part-time job at the time, so I had about three hours to myself after school most days. When the mood struck me, I would log in, download a couple of images, and stash them away on an unmarked floppy buried among a bunch of them on my shelf. I got away with it for months, then one day in the middle of a transfer I got knocked offline. While I was trying to figure out what happened, the phone rang. I nervously picked it up and an extremely irritated sounding man asked for my dad by name. I said he wasn't home and offered to take a message, and the person said they would just call back later. I spent the rest of the evening on eggshells, just waiting for the phone to ring. At one point it did, and I very nearly jumped out of my skin, but it turned out to be just my aunt calling.

Whoever it was never called back, as far as I know. From the timing and sequence of events, I assume it was the sysop who spotted me downloading porn, kicked me off, got my dad's name from the phone book based on my profile info, and called up to bust me, but I never actually found out 100% for sure. All I know is I walked the straight and narrow for a good long time after that.