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As the use of the Internet became more widespread in the mid to late 1990s, traditional BBSes rapidly faded in popularity.

Today, Internet forums occupy much of the same social and technological space as BBSes did, and the term BBS is often used to refer to any online forum or message board.

Although BBSing survives only as a niche hobby in most parts of the world, it is still an extremely popular form of communication for Taiwanese youth ( see PTT Bulletin Board System ).

Most BBSes are now accessible over telnet and typically offer free email accounts, FTP services, IRC and all of the protocols commonly used on the Internet.

Some offer access thfough packet switched networks, or packet radio connections.