What was it like to go on BBS's in the 1990s?

Before the World Wide Web, connecting to another computer to exchange information was a very niche thing. A bulletin board system was sort of a combination of Reddit, Discord, and Napster. You could post messages and people would respond, you could trade files or chat and play simple text based online games. 

There were public BBSs which were kind of like the precursor to things like AOL. They were mostly about chatting with people and exchanging information. But most young people were more interested in 'the scene'. An underground society of small private BBSs that exchanged art, code and computer tricks. The scene had a lot to do with hacking and pirating software, but there were also those who were in it purely for the art. 

Today's modern internet is like going to a mall. There's space for everyone, there are things everyone needs. But its kind of homogenized and impersonal. Many BBSs were literally run out of some kid's bedroom with two phone lines he somehow convinced his parents to pay for. It was more like visiting a small shop or someone's home than going to the mall. 

This was in an era before Facebook and smart phones and even WiFi. In many places, spending time on a computer was not a socially acceptable activity. You'd be teased in school for being involved in any of this. Little did we know we'd all basically have the BBS's descendants in our pockets and even our Grandma would be on it. Many of those involved in the scene in the early days went on to found some of the big name Gaming companies that exist today or have software engineering careers in the private sector. Not a bad outcome for "wasting time on a computer" in the 90s.