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<TITLE>T E X T F I L E S</TITLE>
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<H1>BBS Textfiles</H1>
<P>
While the vast majority of the textfiles on this site came from Bulletin
Board Systems (BBSes), a much smaller percentage concern themselves with
the actual nuts-and-bolts issues, heartaches, triumphs, and wonder of the
BBSes themselves. This section covers those files specifically.
<P>
Imagine a simple home computer, maybe an Apple II or Commodore 64, sitting
in a basement of a suburban house, or maybe in the bedroom of a young 
computer kid, waiting eagerly for the next calling to come down the second
phone line (or even the only phone line, late at night) so that the single
user could read and post messages, upload and download files, or ask the
SysOp (system operator) if they wanted to chat.  This was the single node
of power which gave hundreds of kids the platform to express themselves or
affect the world around them, one caller at a time. 
<P>
These files rank among my favorites; reading the rants about the rules
of the BBSes, the distant but emotionally powerful networks that rose 
between groups of people who never met, and the glimpses you are given
into how it was to have your machine running a message base, hoping that
you were going to get the most "posts" of any of the boards running in
your neighborhood. Fantastic.
<P>
<TABLE WIDTH=100%>
<TD BGCOLOR=#00FF00><FONT COLOR=#000000><B>Filename</B><BR></FONT>
<TD BGCOLOR=#00DD00><FONT COLOR=#000000><B>Size</B><BR></FONT>
<TD BGCOLOR=#00AA00><FONT COLOR=#000000><B>Description of the Textfile</B><BR></TR>

