Ah, I remember BBS, lol, and I remember feeling like I got scorching speed just because I downloaded a 2-colour 32x32 pixel animation in like 15 minutes or something to that effect.

Have to say my impression of BBS was much different to yours, though.  I really enjoyed them and can't say I ever came across an argument (at least nothing like we have these days).  I think what's nice about a BBS system is that you have things working as you want them, it's like owning your own independent internet with no ISP involved (and that's how it should be, a system we need to go back to).  If I had the choice to stay with what we have now (with it's speed, fancy graphics, corruption and censorship), or the sheer enjoyment of what we had then (absolute freedom, control, and the ability to mingle with like-minded individuals in a space truly owned by each individual Sysop) I'd rather have what we had back then (BBS), cause apart from the speed and tech back then, it was superior on every level as far as I'm concerned.

But yup, I know, I'm just a luddite, and while I'm not old, I'm glad I'm old enough to be lucky enough to have experienced the world of BBS, because visiting one is actually visiting someones computer, a world or community they set-up for like-minded users to access worldwide, and it's always different, no two seemed to work the same.  Just like going into a strangers house and taking a look around.  I just love that aspect of it, the individuality and control, and absolute power to keep away what you don't like.  And I was lucky I suppose, cause a lot of the BBS I visted were very local to me so I was ok for speed a lot of the time.  I even visited the Sysop of one BBS and bought a keyboard from him, he made me an offer I couldn't refuse, it was a genuine bargain :-D

Anyway, sorry, getting OT, but just one last thing ...

If you go to Google Images and search for "BBS" you'll get a bunch of alloy wheels.  But if you actually search for "Bulletin Board System" you'll see images of what you expected to see.  So very sad that the term "BBS" brings up a brand of alloys rather than what it actually stands for!