sweet308: What's up with Geekzone's timestamps? It's the 3rd today not the 2nd...

I was 74370,1216 (the comma is not a misprint; the original CompuServe addresses were punctuated that way) back in the mid-80's in Canada.

A rather expensive proposition, as the nearest dial-up port was a toll call.  And slow: 300 baud on a good day on the rural 4-party line.  

     >I was 74370,1216 (the comma is not a misprint; the original CompuServe addresses were punctuated that way) back in the mid-80's in Canada.<

The original CompuServe user IDs consisted of seven octal digits in the form 7xxxx,xx - a legacy of PDP-10 architecture - (later eight and nine octal digits in the form 7xxxx,xxx[20] and 7xxxx,xxxx and finally ten octal digits in the form 1xxxxx,xxxx) that were generated in advance and issued on printed "Snap Paks".

From 1989, CompuServe users had email access to the Internet, using their user ID in the form xxxxx.xxxx@compuserve.com - where the comma in the original ID was replaced with a period.

In 1996, users were allowed to create an alias for their Internet e-mail address, which could also be used for a personal web page; the longest-term members were allowed first choice of the new addresses.

In 1998, users were offered the option of switching their mailbox to a newer system that provided POP3 access via the Internet, so that any Internet mail program could be used. Current CompuServe email addresses look like XXXXXX@cs.com for users of the CompuServe 2000 service.

The website is about the same age as i am, http://www.kcbbs.gen.nz

Who remembers the Lorikeet and Lory Picture gallery? 

My favourite BBS sites were, if I remember correctly, Spiders Web, Night Owl, and Actrix.

Better yet, was the ability to connect with a BBS on the other side of the world to obtain great programs called "Shareware" <bg>, of which there was a huuuuge amount when compared to todays' "apps" .... a favourite of mine was something called White Sands, which I found out much later was actually based at the White Sands Missile Testing Range in New Mexico, USA !

Along the same lines - what was the internet BBS run by the Wellington City Council around 1995? Compulink maybe? (either that or Citylink)? From memory it was funded by ratepayers.

I remember using Compuserve and have a program that would automatically log me in, jump to each of the forums that I was interested in, download any new messages and upload any replies I had made, and then log me out; all in an effort to save time/money because they billed per minute.

     >I remember using Compuserve and have a program that would automatically log me in, jump to each of the forums that I was interested in, download any new messages and upload any replies I had made, and then log me out; all in an effort to save time/money because they billed per minute.<

There was the 'unofficial' AutoPilot, and the more well known NavCIS programs.

Coil:

 

The website is about the same age as i am, http://www.kcbbs.gen.nz

 

Who remembers the Lorikeet and Lory Picture gallery? 

 

You don't see many .gen.nz sites anymore! Actrix was another (I see that http://www.actrix.gen.nz now redirects to the .co.nz variant), but I can't name any others off the top of my head.

home.gen.nz ?

Very early Compuserve/AIM user here. In fact I went from that to IHUG as I could save $200 a month by dialing up IHUG Auckland after 10pm and doing everything then. IHUG was new and only Auckland at that time.

I can remember in the mid 90s getting an ICQ invite and sitting in a multi window chat with it geeks from around the world. Still can remember the "tingles" from being a part of something so amazing. NZ no longer was a backwater. Well it was but this big ship called the Internet was finally landing.