@ancient_catbus@randomdent standalone local BBS systems rapidly morphed into regional BBS systems via call forwarding (electric blue covered most of SF Bay Area) and national networks (WWIV) via various ad hoc infrastructures BBS also used door software internet gateways to connect to smarthosts Bang path email example: pacbell.com!boo!tweekco!alizard
@alizardx@ancient_catbus@randomdent I ran the WWIV BBS software and was connected to a couple of different networks. My BBS connected to the larger network and would receive message updates over modem. The fediverse kind of reminds me of those days.