As the fastness of CyberSpace extends without limits, a forgotten
community wonders what it's role is and where it now fits in the big
picture.  That community is the Bulletin Board System.  Before the time
of InterNet, Prodigy, American Online (AOL), and Compuserve (CS), a few
pioneers esablished a colony.  This colony was a mere group of friends
with a common interest: to communicate with computers.  In this
community, everybody knew everyone else.  One could even post his Name
and Address with a message "Party at 5" and people would show up.  Not
criminals, but a group of friends.  The group expanded and new friends
were added.  On the bulletin board, there was a face with every name.
You knew exactly who you were talking to.  New recruits eagerly joined
in the fun and were welcomed warmly.  This colony became a community.
Soon however, this community began to stray from the normal community.
Friends never shook hands, only their modems shook hands.  With all the
trust on the line (phone line), convicts (hackers, pirates) swarmed the
new community.  They took with them some good friends.  Soon the
society was more of a secret organization.  The time has come to bring
back the bulletin board as a community to help the underlying community.

Let's first look at the word "Community."  It easily breaks down into:
Comm and Unity.  Comm - derived from communicate and unity - to make
strong with numbers, unite.  When you put them back together, you get
Community - a union of communicators.

As I look into the future, I am scared.  I'm sure most people are.
Naturally we are both curious and afraid of the unknown.  I want to
share my vision with you.  Computers and high-end technology have
changed the world in so many ways.  They have exceeded our wildest
dreams.  These same computers have also changed our mind.  Soon, late
visitors to this community will not see the personal side of computers.
They'll be whizzed away into Prodigy, AOL, CS, MSN, and the likes.  The
problem here is the "Human Touch."  That is a very powerful touch.  It
is lost when you visit large on-line providers.  The internet is a vast
network of data, some useful, most not.  What it gets down too is what
is more important to the end user: The contents of a soda machine, or
the movies playing at a local cinema.  The InterNet vs. The BBS.  I am
in favor of the BBS.  In the future we will turn into drones.  We will
never leave the house.  Everything we want will be a modem call away.
No one will ever know what each other looks like or "who" some one
really is.

In the next few years, a change that has already begun will engulf the
known computer world.  Now is the time to change.  Soon, the local BBS
will be so out-dated and out of touch that they will lose their appeal.
We must offer to the user on our BBS's what the internet cannot: local
flavor.  It is up to the SysOps of the world to change it.  I want to
help.

In a quest for computers and the community to co-exist in symbiosis, I
began CompUtopia.  This company has dedicated its line of software to
improving the BBS to help the community.  Every community has a BBS or
two.  They all have distinct differences amongst each other.  You call
one for files and other for world messages.  You call one since your
friend is the sysop.  Every community needs a board specializing in...
the needs of the community.