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Also known as: Bulletin Board System
Bulletin board system: a single computer running message board and file transfer software that callers reached directly by modem, usually one at a time. BBSes were the main alternative to Usenet for the same audience through the 1980s, and networks like FidoNet linked them into a store and forward mesh. Many later carried Usenet feeds. The web absorbed almost all of them by the late 1990s.
Browse all terms in Culture & History, or see the full Usenet glossary.