response 2 of 14:

Jun 13 06:41 UTC 2002

It's probably a matter of social interaction, and has been brewing since
Mosaic was available to the average user.

For instance, I came to M-Net after I noticed ajd's little brother downloading
the passwd file on a winter evening in 1993. I glanced, asked "What's that?"
and he gave me the old 996-4644 number. Since it was one of the few BBS's that
was a local call from South Lyon, I stuck around. My Pipeline charges were
pretty hefty due to the hours I'd spend on Foothills, so I thought Party was
a decent free alternative. It would be another year or two before I ventured
in to BBS.

Anyway, after I had been on for a while, I'd tell my friends about it when
they got computers. So users like robman, shitfacd, and a few others knew
about M-Net from another M-Netter (me). As far as Grex goes, I hadn't heard
of it until balance mentioned it at an M-Net party around 1994. Again...a user
brought another user.

Although I don't discount that unlimited internet access and web-based BBS's
have played a role in the changing BBS landscape, I think the local shift has
a lot more to do with the lack of offline interaction (at least, in M-Net's
case). Back in high school, I'd "sell" M-Net to my friends by saying "Hang
out for a couple weeks, and your bound to get invited to a party."