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Early BBSes were often a local phenomenon, as one had to dial into a BBS with a phone line and would have to pay additional long distance charges for a BBS out of the local calling area.

Thus, many users of a given BBS usually lived in the same area, and activities such as BBS Meets or Get Togethers were common, where users of the board would gather at a local restaurant, the SysOp ’ s home or similar venue and meet face to face.