Page "Bulletin board system" Paragraph 2

Ward Christensen coined the term " Bulletin Board System " as a reference to the traditional cork-and-pin bulletin board often found in entrances of supermarkets, schools, libraries or other public areas where people can post messages, advertisements, or community news.

By " computerizing " this method of communications, the name of the first BBS system was born: CBBS-Computerized Bulletin Board System.

During their heyday from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, most BBSes were run as a hobby free of charge by the system operator ( or " SysOp "), while other BBSes charged their users a subscription fee for access, or were operated by a business as a means of supporting their customers.

Bulletin board systems were in many ways a precursor to the modern form of the World Wide Web, social network services and other aspects of the Internet.