Comment BBS Culture (Score 2) 467
Of all the things I miss most about the era of "old computers" (for me this means early 80's), it's the culture of BBS systems that I miss the most. Operating under a pseudonym was extremely liberating, and by separating the individual from existing notions of age, gender, race, etc, the discourse could focus almost exclusively on the ideas being presented. The fact that the medium was entirely text-based during this period was a benefit, as it supported the stripping away of elements outside of the ideas. While the user base was smaller and more segmented, introduction of FIDONet helped expand interaction between sub-communities.
Looking at the evolution of online communities, and specifically the advent of social media, I personally find that we've moved in an absolutely contrary direction where social media environments create a focus on crafting an _image_ of a particular individual through photos, videos, and streams highlighting characteristics of the poster (irregardless of whether they actually apply to the posting user) and de-emphasize any true interaction around the core ideas being applied. It looks to me less a medium for discourse and discovery of new ideas, and more one for finding pockets of support and self-validation for ideas already held.
That's how I see things now, but perhaps it's just because I'm getting old and curmudgeonly...
On the other hand, I don't miss the XModem file transfer protocol (with it's stupid extra bytes at the end) at all.
