# The history of message/bulletin boards?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-of-message-bulletin-boards/179388>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 3, 2003, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-of-message-bulletin-boards/179388 "2003-06-03T16:02:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DasUnterMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DasUnterMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DasUnterMensch)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-of-message-bulletin-boards/179388/1 "2003-06-03T16:02:54Z")

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I know a verry little bit about the pre-net bbs’s (had a roomie back in 88 who ran one). But I’ve allways been curious were all this madness started and how it evolved to this point.

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**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-of-message-bulletin-boards/179388/2 "2003-06-03T17:16:23Z")

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Well, as you noted, BBSes were doing this for quite a while. I remember using them back in the early 90s before internet was available\*

Usenet has been around for quite a while…early 80s I’m guessing? This was probably originator of the “message boarding” concept.

(\*I realize the internet was around and had been long before the early 90s, but it certainly wasn’t widely available as a private service for individual consumers.)

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**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-of-message-bulletin-boards/179388/3 "2003-06-03T18:06:51Z")

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I used them from 1985-1990 or so. There were plenty of them, too, spread out all over the country, and for a long while they weren’t multiuser. I think there’s a history of it around somewhere.

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**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-of-message-bulletin-boards/179388/4 "2003-06-03T21:19:29Z")

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[Here’s a timeline](http://slashdot.org/articles/03/02/16/2028220.shtml).