BBS – Text-Only Online Community | Hacker News Reader

BBS – Text-Only Online Community

bigboringsystem.com

65 pointsjsherer29 comments

The phone number auth is hilarious, this bbs doesn't have A phone number, this bbs has YOUR phone number!

(edited to add, and it needs Tradewars 2000 as a door game)

the project is open source and there are contributors who own portions of services under development (such as text adventures and private messaging).

btw, i am the one that created this :)

https://github.com/bigboringsystem/

B.B.S. is awesome. If it had a huggable form, I'd never let go.

pretty cool, been designing something for hub.bbs.io (not live) ... hoping to have it up by the end of next year (I kid, but that may well be the turnaround) ...

Also, like that you're using node.js

Open source or not, there are those who don't want to give out their personal phone number to a server whose code they cannot verify.

It's Tradewars 2002. Sorry to be pedantic, but I can't let my childhood memories erode any faster than they already are by accepting that. :)

Big Boring System led me to reminisce and find an old school WWIV BBS and standalone Tradewars game accessible via telnet:

  telnet bbs.filenet.wwiv.net
  telnet twgs.exiled.org 2002

I love this and I've been thinking of something along these lines myself. Having an all-text site with a mouse-driven interface seems somehow wrong though.

I guess I'm just used to having things rescan whenever I hit a command. More BBSes please! Legend of Red Dragon!!

After school I would rush home and dial up to my local 4-node BBS and play LORD for hours. One day the Sysop noticed how much I was playing and used a cheat which gave me the very hard to get "blood sword". Good times!

Who needs this when you can

telnet telehack.com

It kind of reminds me of a usenet newsgroup without a newsreader ... everything old is new again.

Are the pins sent by email via an SMS gateway? If so, why not just let people sign up with their email address?

I'd like to join in on the fun, but not with my personal phone number.

No, it's using twilio. The code is open source - as mentioned downthread. https://github.com/bigboringsystem/

It's 2014 (almost 2015), you don't need to give your personal number. Google Voice is free and seems to work but can't confirm since the last text posted was at 12:28 pm. Bonus, one can use their PC with a real display and keyboard if use their GV number.

Google Voice is not available everywhere.

Same with cell or phone service...

There is not other services like GV that provider a phone number?

I think the point is that email signup would be preferable for those who don't want to give it their personal phone number.

It wouldn't be a texting only to post site then would it? My point is there are free services where one can get a second phone number for uses like this.

Seems the nginx server is already busted - 504s all over...

It's just periodically getting slammed. It comes back after a little bit.

I like the design

I feel like I'm missing something..

Make sure you don't post any ascii butts as this is a real, serious community. Your posts will be deleted and your account will be banned...

We didn't ban your account, Ryan.

This literally changes everything.

what a big and beautiful system!

love it :)

It's text-only like hacker news... but for useless chatter.

Bonus: doesn't work without a trackable, paying subscription to a cell carrier (some workarounds like Google Voice exist).

"for useless chatter"

You'll fit right in, then.

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